Migration Ecology Group
@migecol.bsky.social
News from the Migration Ecology Group
@University of Oldenburg, Germany
led by Prof. Heiko Schmaljohann
https://uol.de/en/migration-ecology
@University of Oldenburg, Germany
led by Prof. Heiko Schmaljohann
https://uol.de/en/migration-ecology
New study led by our @wielandheim.bsky.social uncovered negative effects of an anthropogenic fire on bird abundance and diversity during stopover:
New #ornithology paper + @ramonaheim.bsky.social
negative effects of #fire on bird abundance & diversity during stopover🔥
past work focussed on breeding birds, while fire impacts during migration remained unknown 🐤
fire management needed to sustain stopover habitat 👩🚒
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
negative effects of #fire on bird abundance & diversity during stopover🔥
past work focussed on breeding birds, while fire impacts during migration remained unknown 🐤
fire management needed to sustain stopover habitat 👩🚒
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
November 19, 2025 at 7:44 AM
New study led by our @wielandheim.bsky.social uncovered negative effects of an anthropogenic fire on bird abundance and diversity during stopover:
In cooperation with RWE, we proudly announce the installation of the first #MOTUS station in an offshore wind farm (Amrumbank West) in Germany and in Europe. This will help to fill key knowledge gaps in offshore environmental monitoring. We were supported by our colleagues from Wind Energy Systems
October 29, 2025 at 9:26 AM
In cooperation with RWE, we proudly announce the installation of the first #MOTUS station in an offshore wind farm (Amrumbank West) in Germany and in Europe. This will help to fill key knowledge gaps in offshore environmental monitoring. We were supported by our colleagues from Wind Energy Systems
Reposted by Migration Ecology Group
A skylark I tagged last autumn in northernmost Germany with a #Motus transmitter (to study #pesticide effects) was now detected near our University in Oldenburg - we @migecol.bsky.social col.bsky.social now have data from 3 migration seasons for this bird!
motus.org/dashboard/#e...
#birdmigration
motus.org/dashboard/#e...
#birdmigration
October 24, 2025 at 1:52 PM
A skylark I tagged last autumn in northernmost Germany with a #Motus transmitter (to study #pesticide effects) was now detected near our University in Oldenburg - we @migecol.bsky.social col.bsky.social now have data from 3 migration seasons for this bird!
motus.org/dashboard/#e...
#birdmigration
motus.org/dashboard/#e...
#birdmigration
Reposted by Migration Ecology Group
We’re #hiring! Our new fellowship holder Dr. Alina Sigaeva will soon be establishing her research group on #cell #physiology 🥼🔬🧪🧫 🧬of avian #magnetoreception 🐣🧭🧲. She is looking for a talented PhD student 🧑🎓👩🎓. Apply by 2 November at uol.de/job764en Please share widely!
Doctoral researcher in cell physiology of avian magnetoreception // University of Oldenburg
uol.de
October 6, 2025 at 9:50 AM
We’re #hiring! Our new fellowship holder Dr. Alina Sigaeva will soon be establishing her research group on #cell #physiology 🥼🔬🧪🧫 🧬of avian #magnetoreception 🐣🧭🧲. She is looking for a talented PhD student 🧑🎓👩🎓. Apply by 2 November at uol.de/job764en Please share widely!
We’re hiring a doctoral researcher in the area of migration ecology.
The work will focus on the question of how and when migratory songbirds learn where their home is using #Motus.
Part of the Cluster of Excellence NaviSense and linked with @sfb1372.bsky.social
uol.de/job788en
#ornithology
The work will focus on the question of how and when migratory songbirds learn where their home is using #Motus.
Part of the Cluster of Excellence NaviSense and linked with @sfb1372.bsky.social
uol.de/job788en
#ornithology
October 20, 2025 at 10:13 AM
We’re hiring a doctoral researcher in the area of migration ecology.
The work will focus on the question of how and when migratory songbirds learn where their home is using #Motus.
Part of the Cluster of Excellence NaviSense and linked with @sfb1372.bsky.social
uol.de/job788en
#ornithology
The work will focus on the question of how and when migratory songbirds learn where their home is using #Motus.
Part of the Cluster of Excellence NaviSense and linked with @sfb1372.bsky.social
uol.de/job788en
#ornithology
See the thread of our group member about one of our papers:
3rd anniversary of this paper: Karwinkel et al. 2022 "A magnetic pulse does not affect free-flight navigation behaviour of a medium-distance songbird migrant in spring" in JEB, where we tried to reproduce old studies on magnetoreception, but found no effects. A thread:
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
October 2, 2025 at 6:31 PM
See the thread of our group member about one of our papers:
1. Yellow-browed Warbler tagged in 2025! 🤩
On September 24, @annikapeter.bsky.social tagged the first Yellow-browed warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) on Helgoland in 2025 to study its migratory behaviour. Stay tuned for fascinating bird tracks!
#Motus #Tracking #Birdmigration
On September 24, @annikapeter.bsky.social tagged the first Yellow-browed warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) on Helgoland in 2025 to study its migratory behaviour. Stay tuned for fascinating bird tracks!
#Motus #Tracking #Birdmigration
September 26, 2025 at 1:55 PM
1. Yellow-browed Warbler tagged in 2025! 🤩
On September 24, @annikapeter.bsky.social tagged the first Yellow-browed warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) on Helgoland in 2025 to study its migratory behaviour. Stay tuned for fascinating bird tracks!
#Motus #Tracking #Birdmigration
On September 24, @annikapeter.bsky.social tagged the first Yellow-browed warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) on Helgoland in 2025 to study its migratory behaviour. Stay tuned for fascinating bird tracks!
#Motus #Tracking #Birdmigration
NEW PUBLICATION on stopover ecology of Songbirds during spring migration: After packmor et al. 2020 (Mov Ecol) found that trans-Saharan migrants react differently to weather for migratory departure, we aked ourselves, whether this is also valid for spring migration? 🐦
a thread 🧵 on 7 hypotheses:
a thread 🧵 on 7 hypotheses:
September 26, 2025 at 8:02 AM
NEW PUBLICATION on stopover ecology of Songbirds during spring migration: After packmor et al. 2020 (Mov Ecol) found that trans-Saharan migrants react differently to weather for migratory departure, we aked ourselves, whether this is also valid for spring migration? 🐦
a thread 🧵 on 7 hypotheses:
a thread 🧵 on 7 hypotheses:
Meet Lasse,
He‘ll support the working group as a volunteer for the next year, hoping to learn and observe scientific work in the process. While his interests lay elsewhere beforehand, he‘s become curios about the groups work and likes to try to think along :)
He‘ll support the working group as a volunteer for the next year, hoping to learn and observe scientific work in the process. While his interests lay elsewhere beforehand, he‘s become curios about the groups work and likes to try to think along :)
September 11, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Meet Lasse,
He‘ll support the working group as a volunteer for the next year, hoping to learn and observe scientific work in the process. While his interests lay elsewhere beforehand, he‘s become curios about the groups work and likes to try to think along :)
He‘ll support the working group as a volunteer for the next year, hoping to learn and observe scientific work in the process. While his interests lay elsewhere beforehand, he‘s become curios about the groups work and likes to try to think along :)
This week we were at #BESMove2025, where @giovannasandretti.bsky.social presented our results on the overlooked pre-migratory flights.
The conference title of this year was "Understanding Migration", and she came back home full of fresh insights and great new connections!
The conference title of this year was "Understanding Migration", and she came back home full of fresh insights and great new connections!
September 5, 2025 at 5:37 AM
This week we were at #BESMove2025, where @giovannasandretti.bsky.social presented our results on the overlooked pre-migratory flights.
The conference title of this year was "Understanding Migration", and she came back home full of fresh insights and great new connections!
The conference title of this year was "Understanding Migration", and she came back home full of fresh insights and great new connections!
Our group is now also involved in the education of future biology teachers here at the University of Oldenburg #birdringing #birdbanding #birdmigration
Great fun to teach students how to catch and handle #birds for scientific studies and how to collect and analyse fecal samples together with @giovannasandretti.bsky.social - but shocking to see how many songbirds´ droppings contain #microplastics
September 1, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Our group is now also involved in the education of future biology teachers here at the University of Oldenburg #birdringing #birdbanding #birdmigration
Join us in the migration ecology group at the University of Oldenburg! 📡🐦🐥
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
August 26, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Join us in the migration ecology group at the University of Oldenburg! 📡🐦🐥
A very nice #EOU2025 @eounion.bsky.social conference in Bangor, Wales, with @thiemokarwinkel.bsky.social (hosting a symposium on #MOTUS bird tracking) and @wielandheim.bsky.social (summarizing recent advances in landbird migration studies along the Asian flyways) representing our group 🕊️🐦📡
August 25, 2025 at 12:45 PM
A very nice #EOU2025 @eounion.bsky.social conference in Bangor, Wales, with @thiemokarwinkel.bsky.social (hosting a symposium on #MOTUS bird tracking) and @wielandheim.bsky.social (summarizing recent advances in landbird migration studies along the Asian flyways) representing our group 🕊️🐦📡
Great fun canoeing along the Wümme river near Bremen with the @migecol.bsky.social team!
Excellent food and some nice birds as well, incl. White-tailed Eagle, Black Kite, Kingfisher, Reed Buntings ...and a Cockatiel 😄 #birding
Excellent food and some nice birds as well, incl. White-tailed Eagle, Black Kite, Kingfisher, Reed Buntings ...and a Cockatiel 😄 #birding
July 10, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Great fun canoeing along the Wümme river near Bremen with the @migecol.bsky.social team!
Excellent food and some nice birds as well, incl. White-tailed Eagle, Black Kite, Kingfisher, Reed Buntings ...and a Cockatiel 😄 #birding
Excellent food and some nice birds as well, incl. White-tailed Eagle, Black Kite, Kingfisher, Reed Buntings ...and a Cockatiel 😄 #birding
New paper on Siberian Barn Swallow migration by our group´s @wielandheim.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
June 30, 2025 at 9:45 AM
New paper on Siberian Barn Swallow migration by our group´s @wielandheim.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Meet (F)Annika!
She is helping the working group as a volunteer (oeko-freiwillig.de) and gets to do all the “fun” things (as Heiko would say :)) - such as supporting field work. She has always been interested in birds, but over the past few months she has learned to truly admire them.
She is helping the working group as a volunteer (oeko-freiwillig.de) and gets to do all the “fun” things (as Heiko would say :)) - such as supporting field work. She has always been interested in birds, but over the past few months she has learned to truly admire them.
June 26, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Meet (F)Annika!
She is helping the working group as a volunteer (oeko-freiwillig.de) and gets to do all the “fun” things (as Heiko would say :)) - such as supporting field work. She has always been interested in birds, but over the past few months she has learned to truly admire them.
She is helping the working group as a volunteer (oeko-freiwillig.de) and gets to do all the “fun” things (as Heiko would say :)) - such as supporting field work. She has always been interested in birds, but over the past few months she has learned to truly admire them.
Abstract submission is still open for two more weeks and we would love to receive more contributions for the Young-Researchers-Symposium on Magnetoreception & Navigation in Animals. Travel grants are also available.
www.sfb1372.de/young-resear...
@sfb1372.bsky.social
www.sfb1372.de/young-resear...
@sfb1372.bsky.social
June 17, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Abstract submission is still open for two more weeks and we would love to receive more contributions for the Young-Researchers-Symposium on Magnetoreception & Navigation in Animals. Travel grants are also available.
www.sfb1372.de/young-resear...
@sfb1372.bsky.social
www.sfb1372.de/young-resear...
@sfb1372.bsky.social
Meet Melanie: she´s the good soul of the working group and our secret star. Nothing works without her & everything works with her. Our technician can do everything & saves the rest of us from putting our foot in our mouths. She is also into plant conservation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_0W...#isoetes
June 11, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Meet Melanie: she´s the good soul of the working group and our secret star. Nothing works without her & everything works with her. Our technician can do everything & saves the rest of us from putting our foot in our mouths. She is also into plant conservation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_0W...#isoetes
New paper led by our group´s @wielandheim.bsky.social: more skylarks are migrating during moonlit nights! 🌔
Are skylarks preferring bright nights around full moon for migration?
Ringing data suggests: yes!
Read more in our new #ornithology paper, based on MSc thesis of Dajana Prinz and in cooperation with @ramonaheim.bsky.social @jki-research.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#birdmigration
Ringing data suggests: yes!
Read more in our new #ornithology paper, based on MSc thesis of Dajana Prinz and in cooperation with @ramonaheim.bsky.social @jki-research.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#birdmigration
June 10, 2025 at 9:12 AM
New paper led by our group´s @wielandheim.bsky.social: more skylarks are migrating during moonlit nights! 🌔
We are happy to announce to have won this year´s volleyball tournament of the institute of biology and environmental sciences. Great team, great fun. And the trophy is a bird (Avocet) - fitting very well to our group 😊
June 6, 2025 at 7:10 AM
We are happy to announce to have won this year´s volleyball tournament of the institute of biology and environmental sciences. Great team, great fun. And the trophy is a bird (Avocet) - fitting very well to our group 😊
Are you a young ornithologist? Consider registering for the DOG Fledglings Meeting - deadline for registration will be prolonged 🐣 #ornithology
On 17/09/2025 the 6th DOG Fledglings Meeting will take place in Erfurt, Germany.
You, as young scientists, can give talks or present posters of your research. In addition, there will be a pub evening, workshop, and excursion. More information and registration: www.do-g.de
You, as young scientists, can give talks or present posters of your research. In addition, there will be a pub evening, workshop, and excursion. More information and registration: www.do-g.de
May 28, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Are you a young ornithologist? Consider registering for the DOG Fledglings Meeting - deadline for registration will be prolonged 🐣 #ornithology
NEW PAPER on tracking Narcissus Flycatcher (Ficedula narcissina) and Amur Stonechat (Saxicola stejnegeri) from Japan with contributions of our working group:
doi.org/10.1007/s103... [Bird pic credit: changed after Ranieljosecastaneda, Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0]
doi.org/10.1007/s103... [Bird pic credit: changed after Ranieljosecastaneda, Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0]
May 27, 2025 at 4:12 PM
NEW PAPER on tracking Narcissus Flycatcher (Ficedula narcissina) and Amur Stonechat (Saxicola stejnegeri) from Japan with contributions of our working group:
doi.org/10.1007/s103... [Bird pic credit: changed after Ranieljosecastaneda, Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0]
doi.org/10.1007/s103... [Bird pic credit: changed after Ranieljosecastaneda, Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0]
Great teamwork on #Norderney: we colour-ringed & sampled ~130 and tagged 40 Wheatears in just two days to study pre-migratory flights and survival - thanks to excellent preparation by @giovannasandretti.bsky.social #ringing #radiotracking
May 26, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Great teamwork on #Norderney: we colour-ringed & sampled ~130 and tagged 40 Wheatears in just two days to study pre-migratory flights and survival - thanks to excellent preparation by @giovannasandretti.bsky.social #ringing #radiotracking
We are happy to announce that the excellence cluster navisense just got funded - one of the biggest achievements possible in German research funding! We will contribute to the interdisciplinary understanding of bird orientation and navigation from social perspectives, to ecology and physics.
Big congrats to the Navisense excellence cluster www.navisense.org that will be funded by the DFG for the next 7 years! Congrats to all of our SFB members that are involved! @genmig.bsky.social @commonternproject.bsky.social @migecol.bsky.social @cataglyphilosophy.bsky.social @olindecke.bsky.social
May 23, 2025 at 8:05 AM
We are happy to announce that the excellence cluster navisense just got funded - one of the biggest achievements possible in German research funding! We will contribute to the interdisciplinary understanding of bird orientation and navigation from social perspectives, to ecology and physics.
Reposted by Migration Ecology Group
Big congrats to the Navisense excellence cluster www.navisense.org that will be funded by the DFG for the next 7 years! Congrats to all of our SFB members that are involved! @genmig.bsky.social @commonternproject.bsky.social @migecol.bsky.social @cataglyphilosophy.bsky.social @olindecke.bsky.social
May 22, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Big congrats to the Navisense excellence cluster www.navisense.org that will be funded by the DFG for the next 7 years! Congrats to all of our SFB members that are involved! @genmig.bsky.social @commonternproject.bsky.social @migecol.bsky.social @cataglyphilosophy.bsky.social @olindecke.bsky.social