Clemens Küpper

Looks like a mesmerizing new paper!

The diversity in plumage and behaviors of #ruffs is stunning and probably an underused asset for their #conservation @simonvandepitte.bsky.social #IWSG2025 #shorebirds #ornithology

Something to look for in #wader nests. Blue eggs are becoming increasingly common in #ruff clutches @jellybb.bsky.social #IWSG2025 #shorebirds #conservation

Want to join our flock? Everyone is welcome irrespective of their age, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, nationality or socio-economic status
#waders #shorebirds #ornithology

Find out more ➡️ www.waderstudygroup.org/join-us/

Looking for enthusiastic candidates with training in behavioural ecology and experience in bird fieldwork. MSc also required!

Apply now to become a speaker at our Institute! We invite excellent postdocs in neuroscience, ecology and other fields related to our research to apply for our Emerging Scientist Talk Series. Apply by October 24: www.bi.mpg.de/ess

@chr-mayer.bsky.social @fleyes.bsky.social @michaelahau.bsky.social

Schön ist anders Bunte Farben, prächtige Federn – doch am Ende erwählen weibliche Zebrafinken und Kampfläufer nicht den Schönsten, sondern den mit dem besten Auftritt oder der cleversten Strategie. Wolfgang Forstmeier...

Schönheit allein ist nicht unbedingt attraktiv. Attraktivität ist vielschichtig, zumindest bei Kampfläufern. (Und vermutlich auch bei vielen anderen Tieren.) www.bi.mpg.de/2778645/news...

A good reminder that global challenges, as daunting as they are, can be resolved.

Comparative life-cycle analyses reveal interacting climatic and biotic drivers of population responses to climate change Abstract. Responses of natural populations to climate change are driven by how multiple climatic and biotic factors affect survival and reproduction, and u

Our new study shows that, for the three vastly different examples and 38 other species, the way how survival & reproduction respond to threats is also vastly different! But, overall, populations fluctuate strongly when several climatic variables change in tandem: doi.org/10.1093/pnas...

We might be nerdy, but we’re definitely fast! At the #B2Run Munich, 60 employees of the @mpibiochem.bsky.social ochem.bsky.social and @mpiforbi.bsky.social sky.social laced up their running shoes and showed the world that scientists can be seriously fit, despite spending a lot of time in the lab!

Flexibility in the face of climate change? A rapid and dramatic shift towards later spring migration in Hudsonian godwits (Limosa haemastica) | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences With rapid environmental change, shifts in migration timing are vitally important for population stability in migratory species and have been widely documented. However, little remains known about how...

1/Spring bird migration is getting earlier, right? Not necessarily! In our latest paper, led by former lab MSc student Lauren Puleo, we found that a population of Hudsonian Godwits breeding in Alaska is now arriving 6 days later than they were a decade ago. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Illustrated poster with the talk title and speaker name on it.

Come join our next talk in the "Emerging Scientist Series"! @marwakavelaars.bsky.social is a Postdoc @humboldtuni.bsky.social and will speak on decision-making in a complex world.

📍July 25th at 11am in House 4 in Seewiesen
Art by @somedonkey.bsky.social

Belated but wonderful news: Kriszti Kupán has won a 3-year grant from the Bauer-Hollmann Stiftung for monitoring and developing an integrative #conservation management approach for threatened #ruffs and #dunlins at #Liminganlahti! 🥚🎉🐣

I really enjoyed this one, a beautifully written natural history account about lekking in birds. And the Darwin-Wallace argument over sexual selection never gets old.

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.

4/5 Most time of the field season was spent searching for nests and to ringing the #chick and #adult ruffs. We found 65 nests in total which is an excellent result. Adult birds also got a radio or #GPStag to investigate #habitat use and behaviour. Aren't the chicks cute?

3/5 Independent males have striking colours and are #aggressive. #Satellite males are mostly white coloured and have more #sneaky behavior. Female-looking faeders are extremely rare.

Here an independent male is pecking a satellite to show its dominance.

More:
simonvandepitte.com/i-am-sexy-an...

2/5: Fieldseason started in early May when the #ruffs arrived in the coastal meadows of the #BothnianBay. Male ruffs are known for their fascinating #lekking #behavior! A true spectacle! The existence of the different male morphs is unique.

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!).

Shorebird chicks are hatching here in Greenland!

This year, egg predation has been intense, especially on Turnstone clutches, so every successful hatch feels extra special. This Turnstone male brooded its four chicks right next to my phone. A bit too close maybe...

Difficult. Maybe one is hiding on the left of that yellow plastic rubbish?

Challenge accepted. And now, minutes later I only managed to find one 🐥

Opportunities — ASAB

the journal Animal Behaviour, which is run by @asab.org, is looking to hire a new Managing Editor. Please share advert with folks with a Life Sciences degree (ideally postgrad) who might be interested www.asab.org/opportunities

I have seen this also in many other wader species. Perhaps the male is trying to hold on just for a moment longer? #waderromance

Frau trennt Joghurtbecher in Karton und Plastik, während 95 Privatjets zur Hochzeit von Jeff Bezos in Venedig landen Magdeburg (dpo) - Eine Frau hat heute in Magdeburg sorgfältig ihren leeren Joghurtbecher in Karton und Plastik getrennt und in den entsprechenden Müll

Frau trennt Joghurtbecher in Karton und Plastik, während 95 Privatjets zur Hochzeit von Jeff Bezos in Venedig landen www.der-postillon.com/2025/06/bezo...

Intraclutch egg color variation in #ruffs is striking. Pale to strongly pigmented, speckled and not speckeled and even blue eggs within a single clutch 💙

Please sign & share if you're a #scientist who cares about #biodiversity! 🪲

There Were Still Old People When Life Expectancy Was 35. A demography myth that won't die

“Historically, no one lived past age 35”

"I’ve heard *so* many versions of this claim, including recently from a menopause doctor (implying menopause is not “natural” because noone lived long enough to go through it). Every time someone states this “fact,” a demographer loses a piece of their soul"

Neat new paper 🧵 showing that Long-billed Curlews respond to Prairie Dog predator alarm calls #ornithology

Follow @jellybb.bsky.social @vmpakanen.bsky.social @koivulakari.bsky.social @simonvandepitte.bsky.social, if you want to hear more about the Baltic #ruffs and #dunlins breeding in Finland.