Interesting talk by @jellybb.bsky.social about the aberrant egg coloration in Ruff clutches. Blue eggs may affect nest survival, but fitness effects may be habitat dependent. @waderstudy.bsky.social IWSG Conference 2025 in Groningen (Netherlands) #IWSG2025 #waders #shorebirds

5/5 In addition, a huge effort is made to protect the #critically #endangered southern #dunlin. With expertise of Vroni Rohr-Bender and others, 26 chicks got an advantage be growing up in our aviary, before they got released back in the meadows, hopefully successfully #boosting the #population.

1/5 - What.an.increadible.fieldseason! Together with @koivulakari.bsky.social , @jelenasubotic.bsky.social , @chorlnev.bsky.social , @vmpakanen.bsky.social, Kristzi Kupan, Vroni Rohr-Bender and others we managed to find plenty of ruff nests (65!) and headstarted a bunch of Southern Dunlins (26!).

Time is up for my brief fieldwork stint at #Liminganlahti. I have to leave right at the hatching peak of the #ruffs but the work is left in the capable hands of a wonderful team.

Southern dunlin, endangered living dinosaur. #theropods, #ornithology, #waders

Ruff lekking: The co-display of a pale satellite and a court-defending independent morph increases male attractiveness. Lekking began here (65°N) in the first week of May and continues, even though most females are already incubating and the first chicks are expected to hatch any day now.

This year we spent long (and cold) nights out to capture #ruffs during peak #lekking. Each one ringed and fitted with a transmitter to help us track their movements and behavior. Thanks to the team for the effort and stamina it takes to pull this off 💤 @koivulakari.bsky.social @chorlnev.bsky.social

A female Ruff enters her nest — a tent-like shelter hiding her precious eggs. She’s unringed for now, but she’ll receive her bands once the chicks hatch. #waders #ornithology

Opera buffa? No, actually ruff male is dead serious in attracting females flying by to land at his lek. #waders #ornithology

Peekaboo! First boreal owl nest for this spring. #helmipöllö #ornithology

In the LATEST ISSUE of IBIS Disappearing aapa mires and why we should care: unnoticed climate change exacerbates drainage effects on birds | onlinelibrary.wiley.... Anthony D. Fox, Aleksi Lehikoinen | #ornithology 🪶

It's not real. It's not us. It's not bad. It's too hard to fix. It's too late. Just about every climate denial argument I've ever heard is a variant of one of these five categories, and each one is as bad as the next. Why? Because they all have the same goal: prevent action as long as possible.

In large meadows, female ruffs prefer to place their nests close to male leks, even though these are not necessarily the safest locations available #ornithology (Hanna Algora, @chorlnev.bsky.social, @jellybb.bsky.social @vmpakanen.bsky.social et al: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

How do female ruffs choose their nest location? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... @koivulakari.bsky.social #ornithology

Increased wind flood frequency leads to decreased nest success of endangered waders in managed shore meadows | www.sciencedirect.co... | Biological Conservation | #ornithology 🪶

Our study with @chorlnev.bsky.social, @vmpakanen.bsky.social, @jellybb.bsky.social, and others, using long-term data on dunlins and ruffs, shows that wind floods are a serious threat to the reproduction of waders in the Baltic Sea shore meadows. #ornithology www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A wonderful team effort to characterize the actions of HSD17B2, a gene that helps some #ruff males to dial down their testosterone levels, got published @science.org (1/n)

Hats off! (or rather PhD hat on?). James Tolliver overcame a lot of personal challenges to successfully defend his PhD today. Like the title of his thesis: "Ruff persistence...". Very proud that he has fledged!

Northern Finland (65°N) this afternoon after sunset. Polar stratospheric clouds.

Read up this amazing blog with fabulous ruff lekking videos from our last field season 🥰

Who says #nature #documentaries need classical music? In July I also worked on a project related to the #behavioural #ecology of #ruffs. Their #courtship #behaviour is memorizing. My new blog on my website tries to tries to convey this feeling. More: simonvandepitte.com/i-am-sexy-an...

Fieldwork delights. Lekking #ruffs trying to attract females at Liminka Bay, Finland.

New paper out in @rsocpublishing.bsky.social! Research from our group shows that males of the polygynous ruff visit many potential breeding sites within a breeding season, travelling up to 9000 km and visiting up to 23 different sites! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... 1/7

At the end of last year, we had a flurry of accepted manuscripts that are going to be published over the next weeks. The first one is already out. Those tiny #Ruff 🐥 have personalities - wonderful work by Veronika Rohr published in Ethology doi.org/10.1111/eth.... 🧵 (1/7)

Aapa mires are really important for Broad-billed Sandpipers, as discussed in recent blog: wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/08/b... But climate change and drainage affect many other species too. See paper in @ibisjournal.bsky.social ⬇️ #ornithology

EARLY VIEW in IBIS Disappearing aapa mires and why we should care: unnoticed climate change exacerbates drainage effects on birds | onlinelibrary.wiley.... Anthony D. Fox, Aleksi Lehikoinen | #ornithology 🪶

Of all the concepts that humankind needs to absorb + act on with extreme urgency, this tops the list.

If you read the WaderTales blog about the problems facing Dunlin breeding in the Baltic: wadertales.wordpress.com/2021/06/20/d... You might be interested to learn that head-starting is now being used to try to boost numbers: simonvandepitte.com/sos-baltic-d... #ornithology

Phenomenal effort of Rienk Fokkema and the Black-tailed godwit research team @birdeyes-gfn.bsky.social to map mammalian predators of meadow bird nests in the Frisian countryside. #ornithology #conservation doi.org/10.1007/s103...

Very informative blog with stunning impressions of fieldwork and head starting of Baltic #dunlins at #Liminganlahti this year @jellybb.bsky.social @koivulakari.bsky.social @vmpakanen.bsky.social Believe it or not but the blog author @simonvandepitte.bsky.social is still looking for a #PhD position

Hi! I am a biologist, graduated in '23 at Ghent University. I am passionated about #ecology, #conservation and #birds, especially #waders. I am also a #photographer. On my website you can find a blog too. For example about the highly endangered #dunlin from the #Bothnian Bay near #Oulu. Enjoy!

We're thankful to hear that Wisdom, the world's oldest banded bird, has returned to Midway Atoll for the breeding season AND has already laid an egg! At 74+ years old, Wisdom is changing our understanding of #seabird biology. Welcome back & congrats! #ornithology friendsofmidway.org/wisdom-was-s...

well, here it is lads after combing through some 1,400 records, it looks like the slender-billed curlew is indeed extinct and the last known photo taken in 1995 was probably at the point it slipped beneath the waves 🦉🧪 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

6/7 Dunlin moves to NEAR THREATENED too. The Baltic has been a focus for research into declines, as discussed here: wadertales.wordpress.com/2021/06/20/d... Dunlin is one of 11 wader species on UK RED LIST: wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/10/04/u... #ornithology

Willow tit in snowy boreal forest. Just now in New Year's day -28°C in N Finland, but these birds endure the cold.