Thomas Cansse

When we hypothesised female terns to have lower mercury levels than males due to egg laying, @matteobeccardi.bsky.social et al designed an elegant experiment to prove the effectiveness of this pathway. That proof just got published & the open access paper can be found here: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

Spread the word: we’re #hiring! We offer two short-term #fellowships for master’s degree holders and PhD candidates for 6-12 months to excellent researchers, who are interested in doing research within one dedicated project of our SFB/CRC 1372. Find more information on www.sfb1372.de/jobs

Isotopic niche segregation during the non-breeding period in Black-faced Cormorants (Phalacrocorax fuscescens) Due to environmental changes, prey distribution and availability are predicted to change. This is expected to impact their predators, especially in the highly dynamic and fast-changing marine envir...

Happy to share my last PhD paper where we investigated the istopic niche of black-faced cormorants both for the breeding season and the non-breeding period. doi.org/10.1080/0158...
#seabirds #ornithology

Out now in Environmental Research – Anna’s new paper in which she assesses the levels of 118 contaminants in unhatched eggs and dead chicks found in the last and endangered population of gull-billed terns in Central Europe, breeding at Neufelderkoog: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

NEW on the #BOUdiversityBlog from Jamie Dunning

Why I don’t want to talk about my neurodivergence

bou.org.uk/blog-dunn...

#ornithology 🪶

Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) captured in Stelvio National Park, Italy

Hey Camera Trappers 📸🐺🐗🦌🦅Snapshot Europe is back for 2025!
Join us in deploying cameras this Sept-Oct. Help build a crucial snapshot of European biodiversity. Learn more & express interest here ▶️ app.wildlifeinsights.org/initiatives/...
Spread the word and help expand our community across Europe🙏

And here it is - Justine's last thesis chapter got accepted too and can now be read as an open access paper in Environmental Research: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

Happy to share our newest paper in which we investigated the non-breeding distribution of Australasian gannets #seabirds #ornithology @aurore-counilh.bsky.social
www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

Fresh siblings and lots of chick ringing during today’s check of the colony. Even the rain held off to let us do our job. 🐣

Live from the field: the first 4 chicks of 2025 have hatched. ❤️ #babyboom

The Banter See season in numbers so far: we have registered 372 birds, 189 nests have been initiated, 42 blood samples have been collected and 28 birds have been caught to attach or remove a geolocator. Next up: chick ringing. Hatching should start any day now. ❤️

Let us introduce you to the Banter See common tern team 2025. :-)

We use blood-sucking bugs to collect blood samples from the terns without them realising we do so. This 'bugging' process started today, and thanks to Justine & María Jesús the first 3 samples of 2025 are in the pocket.

Whereas first arrival has advanced over the long-term study, first laying hasn't (and the same holds true when we look at the averages). Still, 2025 is a fairly early year, as there are only 8 years with an earlier first egg versus 23 with a later first egg. #phenology #seabirds

204 birds have now been registered by the automated registration system. Yesterday, one of our favourites returned too: 11-yr old Dextro, to us better known as our ‘bouncer boy’, because he’s the one that nests just behind the spot where we tie our boat and tries to keep us out of the colony. ♥️

Freshly out in Environmental Pollution – Anna’s new paper in which she assesses mercury pollution in the last and endangered population of gull-billed terns in Central Europe, breeding at Neufelderkoog, a heavily mercury-polluted area: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

Sweet news: 24-yr old Roy & Sören both returned to the colony. After avian influenza killed mostly the older terns in 2022 and 2023, these two males have become the ‘oldies’. We’re hoping they’ll stick around for many more years, maybe even taking the age record, which currently is 27.

They're back! The first three terns arrived yesterday morning. The very first one was 18-year old Calimero. He was followed by 7-year old Severina and 13-year old Fabrice. All arived between 10:29 and 10:54. ♥️ #phenology #seabirds

Poor developmental conditions decrease adult body size and egg size, but not egg laying rate and survival throughout adulthood: A long‐term experiment in a precocial bird This research experimentally manipulated the quality of early-life conditions in Japanese quail, and monitored individual performance over the complete adult lifespan under standardized conditions. I...

New publication in @animalecology.bsky.social by @oscarvedder.bsky.social & @matteobeccardi.bsky.social 'Poor developmental conditions decrease adult body size and egg size, but not egg laying rate and survival throughout adulthood: A long-term experiment in a precocial bird'
doi.org/10.1111/1365...

These are 5 autumn migration routes travelled by the same common tern. He’s not the only one showing such flexibility, and it pays, because in our new paper, published by @royalsocietypublishing.org, we show that route flexibility is associated with minimized headwind exposure: tinyurl.com/4dawhwzj

Shout-out to my lovely team for all their hard work put into building up the Banter See field site over the last few weeks. The islands are ready, the electronic system is up and running. We're ready for the terns to arrive! ♥️

Common terns are assortatively mated with respect to their levels of #mercury #pollution, and transfer mercury to their eggs. Another amazing body of work from Justine's PhD thesis has turned into a paper. To be found in Environmental Research and open access: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

Photo of Black-faced Cormorant landing

📢New blog is out!

@tcansse.bsky.social shares their research on Black-faced Cormorant foraging behaviours

seabirdtracking.org/foraging-efficiency-related-to-site-fidelity-in-black-faced-cormorants/

Full paper here: doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13371

Did you know the gull-billed tern conservation project the @ifv-whv.bsky.social is lucky to take part in has a blog? Newly up today is a little shout-out to our lovely Anna, who is in the final stages of writing up her PhD on these beautiful birds: gelochelidon.de/blog/five-su...

Funded PhD! Interested in nightjars? Interested in radio tracking and GPS tracking? We are looking for a PhD student to study the movement and cognitive ecology of this enigmatic crepuscular species with me and @dmitrykishkinev.bsky.social Link below - message or email for info. 3 days to apply!

Out in @animalecology.bsky.social and open access, this beauty showing that older common terns navigate more efficiently than younger ones and that efficient navigation leads to a reduced migration duration and earlier arrival at the breeding and wintering grounds: doi.org/10.1111/1365...

New paper! @jappliedecology.bsky.social
https://bit.ly/3C5gYJp
We mapped out the migrations of over 10K ind ⚫-tailed godwits (!) to characterize connectivity between sites in Europe and Africa.
We compiled tracking data, ring recoveries and resightings: >400K records in total! (1/5)

Happy new year everyone! ✨🎉

Our training grant applications are now open!

The deadline for applications is the 28th of February.

To apply for our training grants, click the following link or use the website as stated below: www.seabirdgroup.org.uk/grants

Just launched: seabirds.faralloninstitute.org, a beautiful hub for seabird time series data & insights into ocean health. We're grateful for the Banter See terns to be included.