Common Tern Project
@commonternproject.bsky.social
Updates from the @ifv-whv.bsky.social's long-term individual-based study on common terns breeding at the Banter See in Wilhelmshaven; provided by me - Sandra. With a side of gull-billed terns from @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social's conservation project.
There’s such beauty in variety – and the eggs laid by our terns show it too. In our newest paper we try to find patterns in this variety and test how female identity and age, as well as laying order, affect the colour, spottiness, shape, and size of eggs: doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
November 19, 2025 at 2:26 PM
There’s such beauty in variety – and the eggs laid by our terns show it too. In our newest paper we try to find patterns in this variety and test how female identity and age, as well as laying order, affect the colour, spottiness, shape, and size of eggs: doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
There’s one month left to apply for the PhD position on interactions between contaminants and parasites in common terns, co-supervised by @alicecarravieri.bsky.social, Bernd Sures from @unidue.bsky.social and myself. You can do so here: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/380142
November 12, 2025 at 10:50 PM
There’s one month left to apply for the PhD position on interactions between contaminants and parasites in common terns, co-supervised by @alicecarravieri.bsky.social, Bernd Sures from @unidue.bsky.social and myself. You can do so here: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/380142
I was also lucky enough to be given the chance to talk about the Banter See common terns. Although they are protected against two major threats that many birds breeding in the Wadden Sea region face – predation and flooding – other cumulative pressures still affect them too.
November 2, 2025 at 11:34 AM
I was also lucky enough to be given the chance to talk about the Banter See common terns. Although they are protected against two major threats that many birds breeding in the Wadden Sea region face – predation and flooding – other cumulative pressures still affect them too.
Out @animalecology.bsky.social today - a paper with David Ewing in which we explore the #HPAI outbreak in the terns. We find bird-to-bird transmission to be the main driver of infection and estimate the probability of mortality to drop from 0.26 to 0.14 from 2022 to 2023: doi.org/10.1111/1365...
October 9, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Out @animalecology.bsky.social today - a paper with David Ewing in which we explore the #HPAI outbreak in the terns. We find bird-to-bird transmission to be the main driver of infection and estimate the probability of mortality to drop from 0.26 to 0.14 from 2022 to 2023: doi.org/10.1111/1365...
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...
September 18, 2025 at 1:19 PM
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...
And to add some more beauty to the internet: here's a close-up of Dr Schnelle, with her gorgeous hat crafted skillfully by various members of the @ifv-whv.bsky.social, fired on by @robertrollins1892.bsky.social. 🥰
August 29, 2025 at 6:40 AM
And to add some more beauty to the internet: here's a close-up of Dr Schnelle, with her gorgeous hat crafted skillfully by various members of the @ifv-whv.bsky.social, fired on by @robertrollins1892.bsky.social. 🥰
Look at that! @genmig.bsky.social, @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social and I fledged this supercool chick at the @ifv-whv.bsky.social on Wednesday. Let us proudly present to you: Dr Anna Schnelle.
August 29, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Look at that! @genmig.bsky.social, @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social and I fledged this supercool chick at the @ifv-whv.bsky.social on Wednesday. Let us proudly present to you: Dr Anna Schnelle.
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...
August 1, 2025 at 7:21 AM
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...
Ooooh, one of our beautiful terns made it to the cover of the issue of Ethology that contains Melina's study on individual behavioral responses to novel stimuli: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
July 17, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Ooooh, one of our beautiful terns made it to the cover of the issue of Ethology that contains Melina's study on individual behavioral responses to novel stimuli: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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...
July 7, 2025 at 3:25 PM
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...
Our neighbours at the Banter See are no fan of the terns. Luckily the terns don't give a shit. Oh, or maybe sometimes they do. :-)
July 7, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Our neighbours at the Banter See are no fan of the terns. Luckily the terns don't give a shit. Oh, or maybe sometimes they do. :-)
Cute findings for a hot Wednesday morning.
July 2, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Cute findings for a hot Wednesday morning.
Hatching is hard work. ❤️
June 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Hatching is hard work. ❤️
Arrival was earlier, but it does not look like we are going to end up with many more birds this year than last. I guess the 'silent reservoir' was used up, such that we now wait for new recruits from last year's cohort to start making up for the severe losses HPAI induced in 2022 and 2023.
June 19, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Arrival was earlier, but it does not look like we are going to end up with many more birds this year than last. I guess the 'silent reservoir' was used up, such that we now wait for new recruits from last year's cohort to start making up for the severe losses HPAI induced in 2022 and 2023.
Three weeks ago, the little one on the picture on the left was found cold and almost dead. But yesterday, it was the first chick from 'island A' to get its transponder. Happy fledging, little survivor. May you recruit to produce many little survivors yourself. ❤️
June 19, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Three weeks ago, the little one on the picture on the left was found cold and almost dead. But yesterday, it was the first chick from 'island A' to get its transponder. Happy fledging, little survivor. May you recruit to produce many little survivors yourself. ❤️
134 grams of loveliness. ❤️
June 16, 2025 at 7:40 AM
134 grams of loveliness. ❤️
The facial expression of a parent with teenagers. I can relate. 😂
June 11, 2025 at 7:54 AM
The facial expression of a parent with teenagers. I can relate. 😂
Weekend loveliness: retrapping a gull-billed tern carrying a GPS and getting to know a few of the newest colony members.
June 8, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Weekend loveliness: retrapping a gull-billed tern carrying a GPS and getting to know a few of the newest colony members.
The tracking of the gull-billed terns of @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social is going really well and we're seeing lots of interesting variation in space use. Here's two examples of tracks collected across the last 8 days:
June 5, 2025 at 9:57 AM
The tracking of the gull-billed terns of @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social is going really well and we're seeing lots of interesting variation in space use. Here's two examples of tracks collected across the last 8 days:
68 nests with chicks now. ❤️
June 2, 2025 at 1:47 PM
68 nests with chicks now. ❤️
Here’s a video of a fun pilot study on tern personality aspects, in which Melina tested how the birds respond to a novel object placed at their nest. Linea from nest 431 did not care much about an orange cone making an appearance. :-)
May 28, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Here’s a video of a fun pilot study on tern personality aspects, in which Melina tested how the birds respond to a novel object placed at their nest. Linea from nest 431 did not care much about an orange cone making an appearance. :-)
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. 🐣
May 28, 2025 at 9:00 AM
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. 🐣
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. ❤️
May 22, 2025 at 7:18 AM
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. ❤️
From one field site to the next. Back at the Banter See, Kator & Anea from nest 11 on island C have turned into the managers of the entire island, bloodsampling any scientist that dares to come close. :-)
May 22, 2025 at 6:58 AM
From one field site to the next. Back at the Banter See, Kator & Anea from nest 11 on island C have turned into the managers of the entire island, bloodsampling any scientist that dares to come close. :-)