Valentijn S. van Bergen
@vsvanbergen.bsky.social
Studying the largest insectivore🐝 animal of Europe, the Honey buzzard🦅🪶. Phenology, food availability and food use for reproduction 🪺🐥. @vogelwarte.bsky.social🦆🦢🦜🦉🐧🦤🇨🇭
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Valentijn-S-Van-Bergen
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Valentijn-S-Van-Bergen
Pinned
Some impressions of our field work of the past 5 years in which we collected data on the vespid diet of honey buzzards. To investigate the prey use by this insectivore specialist, we collected empty wasp combs from the nests during the chick rearing phase.
1/9
1/9
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
NEW PAPER in #ornithology and #conservation reviews the marine threats to #seabirds and other marine #megafauna and confirms that #fisheries are a severe problem: buff.ly/5SXNdqr
November 14, 2025 at 6:43 PM
NEW PAPER in #ornithology and #conservation reviews the marine threats to #seabirds and other marine #megafauna and confirms that #fisheries are a severe problem: buff.ly/5SXNdqr
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
Very happy to finally have this out! 🎉 A review of the diets of European insectivorous birds. Huge thanks to Klaus Birkhofer, @johanekroos.bsky.social, @henrikgsmith.bsky.social and all co-authors! 🙏 #ornithology @biologylu.bsky.social @vogelwarte.bsky.social @helsinki.fi doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
October 29, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Very happy to finally have this out! 🎉 A review of the diets of European insectivorous birds. Huge thanks to Klaus Birkhofer, @johanekroos.bsky.social, @henrikgsmith.bsky.social and all co-authors! 🙏 #ornithology @biologylu.bsky.social @vogelwarte.bsky.social @helsinki.fi doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
Our team analysed the correlation of N deposition with numbers of territories of 112 Swiss breeding birds species. Insectivous and herbivorous species were more negatively associated with N deposistion, as well as ground-nesting species. Read more here: doi.org/10.1111/cobi...
October 30, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Our team analysed the correlation of N deposition with numbers of territories of 112 Swiss breeding birds species. Insectivous and herbivorous species were more negatively associated with N deposistion, as well as ground-nesting species. Read more here: doi.org/10.1111/cobi...
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
Incredible footage of Goshawk predating Hobby chick. Will likely return 😬 - watch live here: www.youtube.com/live/MJaRwj4... #birds #ukbirds #ornithology Web cam by the amazing Wildlife Windows www.wildlifewindows.co.uk
August 15, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Incredible footage of Goshawk predating Hobby chick. Will likely return 😬 - watch live here: www.youtube.com/live/MJaRwj4... #birds #ukbirds #ornithology Web cam by the amazing Wildlife Windows www.wildlifewindows.co.uk
Yesterday a game keeper asked me to safe a young kite that was stuck up a tree. It had one claw entangled in plastic. In eight years of ringing 1200 kites, I’ve seen every year chicks with ligaments entangled. Some 1-2 % already dies in the nest due to plastic. This one was ‘lucky’ to have fledged.
August 17, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Yesterday a game keeper asked me to safe a young kite that was stuck up a tree. It had one claw entangled in plastic. In eight years of ringing 1200 kites, I’ve seen every year chicks with ligaments entangled. Some 1-2 % already dies in the nest due to plastic. This one was ‘lucky’ to have fledged.
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
Seed predation by rodents suppresses recruitment of a bird-dispersed tree at its upper range limit | Journal of Animal Ecology | besjournals.onlineli... | #ornithology 🪶🌍🧪
July 9, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Seed predation by rodents suppresses recruitment of a bird-dispersed tree at its upper range limit | Journal of Animal Ecology | besjournals.onlineli... | #ornithology 🪶🌍🧪
Spent a week in and around the forests with a nearly invisible beauty of a honey buzzards nest in a silver fir as the highlight of the week. These birds (and their social wasps) seem to have quite a good year.
July 15, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Spent a week in and around the forests with a nearly invisible beauty of a honey buzzards nest in a silver fir as the highlight of the week. These birds (and their social wasps) seem to have quite a good year.
Over the past 10 years I’ve climbed and controlled some 1000 red kite nests. Here a nest with two chicks that had an apple for lunch. Nutrient wise a useless prey but these birds bring all kinds of human refuse on their nests.
June 20, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Over the past 10 years I’ve climbed and controlled some 1000 red kite nests. Here a nest with two chicks that had an apple for lunch. Nutrient wise a useless prey but these birds bring all kinds of human refuse on their nests.
Somehow silly to endlessly keep debating about the basic consensus that the climate is warming due to human caused greenhouse gas emissions. Anyway, quite an insightful 🧵 here.
Scientists who study climate don't automatically attribute all changes to human activity. Rather, we carefully investigate every possible natural factor that could explain the planet's warming.
Could these be the real culprits?
The evidence is in--and the answer is NO.
This thread explains! 🧵
Could these be the real culprits?
The evidence is in--and the answer is NO.
This thread explains! 🧵
May 2, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Somehow silly to endlessly keep debating about the basic consensus that the climate is warming due to human caused greenhouse gas emissions. Anyway, quite an insightful 🧵 here.
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
Raptor rapture in Georgia
Ian Lycett discusses a memorable few days at Batumi in September 2024, where tens of thousands of birds of prey filled the skies:
Ian Lycett discusses a memorable few days at Batumi in September 2024, where tens of thousands of birds of prey filled the skies:
Georgia: raptor rapture
Ian Lycett reports back from a memorable few days birding at Batumi, Georgia, in September 2024, where tens of thousands of birds of prey filled the skies. Species seen included European Honey Buzzard, Black Kite, Pallid Harrier and Black Stork.
bit.ly
March 29, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Raptor rapture in Georgia
Ian Lycett discusses a memorable few days at Batumi in September 2024, where tens of thousands of birds of prey filled the skies:
Ian Lycett discusses a memorable few days at Batumi in September 2024, where tens of thousands of birds of prey filled the skies:
A reminder to keep fighting for a better world. A healthy, inclusive environment doesn’t come for granted. Not even a million Nobel prizes are worth to maintain a toxic system.
Having spent a happy year at a Max Planck (Med Forsch, Heidelberg), I was sad to hear about bullying. Germany has abused metrics even more than the UK.
www.dw.com/en/max-planc...
www.dw.com/en/max-planc...
Abuse of power at Germany's elite research institution – DW – 03/13/2025
The Max Planck Society is Germany's preeminent research organization, boasting 31 Nobel laureates. But insufficient oversight leaves international scientists exposed to abuse and the whims of the inst...
www.dw.com
March 17, 2025 at 7:28 PM
A reminder to keep fighting for a better world. A healthy, inclusive environment doesn’t come for granted. Not even a million Nobel prizes are worth to maintain a toxic system.
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
Call for Counters!
Join BRC in autumn 2025 to witness the magnificent migration of >1 million raptors, improve your ID skills, and contribute to population monitoring! Fees: €10-24/day with discounts available!
Read more & apply here: www.batumiraptorcount.org/volunteer-as-raptor-migration-counter
Join BRC in autumn 2025 to witness the magnificent migration of >1 million raptors, improve your ID skills, and contribute to population monitoring! Fees: €10-24/day with discounts available!
Read more & apply here: www.batumiraptorcount.org/volunteer-as-raptor-migration-counter
March 15, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Call for Counters!
Join BRC in autumn 2025 to witness the magnificent migration of >1 million raptors, improve your ID skills, and contribute to population monitoring! Fees: €10-24/day with discounts available!
Read more & apply here: www.batumiraptorcount.org/volunteer-as-raptor-migration-counter
Join BRC in autumn 2025 to witness the magnificent migration of >1 million raptors, improve your ID skills, and contribute to population monitoring! Fees: €10-24/day with discounts available!
Read more & apply here: www.batumiraptorcount.org/volunteer-as-raptor-migration-counter
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
How do ecological factors influence site selection in a Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) population in the Swiss Alps? Y. Rime et al. found that birds were attentive to exposure, slope inclination, and the presence of rockpiles. More on doi.org/10.1007/s103... #ornithology
Drivers of nest site selection and breeding success in an Alpine ground-nesting songbird - Journal of Ornithology
Birds breeding in high-Alpine habitats must select a suitable breeding site and achieve successful reproduction within a restricted time. During four breeding seasons, we monitored nest sites of the N...
doi.org
February 19, 2025 at 1:50 PM
How do ecological factors influence site selection in a Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) population in the Swiss Alps? Y. Rime et al. found that birds were attentive to exposure, slope inclination, and the presence of rockpiles. More on doi.org/10.1007/s103... #ornithology
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
The threat of illegal hunting to raptors migrating through Batumi: bou.org.uk/blog-dane...
Read all about it on #theBOUblog by Mitra in both English and Farsi!
این بلاگ به زبان فارسی هم در دسترس است ببینید
bou.org.uk/blog/extr...
@batumiraptorcount.org | #ornithology
Read all about it on #theBOUblog by Mitra in both English and Farsi!
این بلاگ به زبان فارسی هم در دسترس است ببینید
bou.org.uk/blog/extr...
@batumiraptorcount.org | #ornithology
February 19, 2025 at 10:00 AM
The threat of illegal hunting to raptors migrating through Batumi: bou.org.uk/blog-dane...
Read all about it on #theBOUblog by Mitra in both English and Farsi!
این بلاگ به زبان فارسی هم در دسترس است ببینید
bou.org.uk/blog/extr...
@batumiraptorcount.org | #ornithology
Read all about it on #theBOUblog by Mitra in both English and Farsi!
این بلاگ به زبان فارسی هم در دسترس است ببینید
bou.org.uk/blog/extr...
@batumiraptorcount.org | #ornithology
Observing nests with camera's yields quite some fascinating by-catch. Here we see a wood mouse - Apodemus sp. on a nest in a tree crown at 22m. After the birds fledged, this mouse visited it almost every night. It shows that the used habitat of this animal doesn't just consist of the forest floor.
February 10, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Observing nests with camera's yields quite some fascinating by-catch. Here we see a wood mouse - Apodemus sp. on a nest in a tree crown at 22m. After the birds fledged, this mouse visited it almost every night. It shows that the used habitat of this animal doesn't just consist of the forest floor.
For my Dutch friends: De landelijke roofvogel dag is aanstaande 22 februari in schouwburg Ogterop. Vrije inloop op een dag vol roofvogel onderzoek en verhalen. Zie hier het programma: www.werkgroeproofvogels.nl/index.php/la...
January 21, 2025 at 3:48 PM
For my Dutch friends: De landelijke roofvogel dag is aanstaande 22 februari in schouwburg Ogterop. Vrije inloop op een dag vol roofvogel onderzoek en verhalen. Zie hier het programma: www.werkgroeproofvogels.nl/index.php/la...
Designed this tool some years ago with Lara gross. It only works if you have some locations in your project over the past month. It saved me many hours checking hundreds of GPS tagged red kites on almost a daily base over the years.
NEW TOOL in #ornithology to check the status of #birds tracked live with #telemetry - just enter #Movebank credentials and quickly check who is alive: https://buff.ly/4gUXgPD
January 20, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Designed this tool some years ago with Lara gross. It only works if you have some locations in your project over the past month. It saved me many hours checking hundreds of GPS tagged red kites on almost a daily base over the years.
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
🚨😷🧪 NEW: A growing body of evidence shows that pandemics, biodiversity loss, and climate change are part of a broader polycrisis - but there are no simple solutions. A sweeping overview of "Pathogens and planetary change" for the first issue of @natrevbiodiv.bsky.social, out now 🔓 rdcu.be/d6lHl
January 15, 2025 at 2:16 PM
🚨😷🧪 NEW: A growing body of evidence shows that pandemics, biodiversity loss, and climate change are part of a broader polycrisis - but there are no simple solutions. A sweeping overview of "Pathogens and planetary change" for the first issue of @natrevbiodiv.bsky.social, out now 🔓 rdcu.be/d6lHl
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
Large-scale forest disturbance & associated management shape bird communities in Central European spruce forests 🐦⬛ 🌏
Models revealed that responses are highly species-specific, with shrub-associated birds benefiting from disturbance in general 📊 🧪
🔗
Models revealed that responses are highly species-specific, with shrub-associated birds benefiting from disturbance in general 📊 🧪
🔗
buff.ly
January 3, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Large-scale forest disturbance & associated management shape bird communities in Central European spruce forests 🐦⬛ 🌏
Models revealed that responses are highly species-specific, with shrub-associated birds benefiting from disturbance in general 📊 🧪
🔗
Models revealed that responses are highly species-specific, with shrub-associated birds benefiting from disturbance in general 📊 🧪
🔗
A study to keep in mind this time of the year. Fireworks can be beautiful but is this short moment of joy worth it?
Another NYE, another night of terror for millions of birds across the Netherlands (and around the world).
Last year we published in @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social Frontiers 🧪 about the massive impact of fireworks on birds 🦅.
Paper: doi.org/10.1002/fee....
Thread below 🧵👇
Last year we published in @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social Frontiers 🧪 about the massive impact of fireworks on birds 🦅.
Paper: doi.org/10.1002/fee....
Thread below 🧵👇
December 30, 2024 at 11:27 AM
A study to keep in mind this time of the year. Fireworks can be beautiful but is this short moment of joy worth it?
The whole biosphere is now filled with microplastics, including our own bodies: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Twenty years of microplastic pollution research—what have we learned?
Twenty years after the first publication that used the term microplastic, we review current understanding, refine definitions, and consider future prospects. Microplastics arise from multiple sources,...
www.science.org
December 30, 2024 at 8:47 AM
The whole biosphere is now filled with microplastics, including our own bodies: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
An intriguing new evolutionary story has just dropped, from my friend and colleague Leif Andersson: a discrete population of large predatory herring in the Baltic Sea, apparently in the process of evolving into a new species. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Evolution of fast-growing piscivorous herring in the young Baltic Sea - Nature Communications
The Atlantic herring is one of the world’s most abundant vertebrates and a typical plankton feeder of major ecological importance. This study shows that a piscivorous (fish-eating) ecotype of herring ...
www.nature.com
December 23, 2024 at 10:55 PM
An intriguing new evolutionary story has just dropped, from my friend and colleague Leif Andersson: a discrete population of large predatory herring in the Baltic Sea, apparently in the process of evolving into a new species. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
Coordinators for 2025!
For the first time in BRC history, we have an all-women coordinator team! Elien (NL), Eva (NL), and Mitra (Iran) are ready to lead the 17th Autumn count. However, we still need 9,000 EU to make it happen!
👉 www.batumiraptorcount.org/support
For the first time in BRC history, we have an all-women coordinator team! Elien (NL), Eva (NL), and Mitra (Iran) are ready to lead the 17th Autumn count. However, we still need 9,000 EU to make it happen!
👉 www.batumiraptorcount.org/support
December 21, 2024 at 6:25 PM
Coordinators for 2025!
For the first time in BRC history, we have an all-women coordinator team! Elien (NL), Eva (NL), and Mitra (Iran) are ready to lead the 17th Autumn count. However, we still need 9,000 EU to make it happen!
👉 www.batumiraptorcount.org/support
For the first time in BRC history, we have an all-women coordinator team! Elien (NL), Eva (NL), and Mitra (Iran) are ready to lead the 17th Autumn count. However, we still need 9,000 EU to make it happen!
👉 www.batumiraptorcount.org/support
Reposted by Valentijn S. van Bergen
Recommended read: The 2024 Autumn report is published!
You can now read our extensive report of the past count season, packed with beautiful photos! Of course, don't forget to scroll down for the behind-the-scenes gallery!
➡️ www.batumiraptorcount.org/autumn-repor...
📸 @barthoekstra.bsky.social
You can now read our extensive report of the past count season, packed with beautiful photos! Of course, don't forget to scroll down for the behind-the-scenes gallery!
➡️ www.batumiraptorcount.org/autumn-repor...
📸 @barthoekstra.bsky.social
December 17, 2024 at 9:29 PM
Recommended read: The 2024 Autumn report is published!
You can now read our extensive report of the past count season, packed with beautiful photos! Of course, don't forget to scroll down for the behind-the-scenes gallery!
➡️ www.batumiraptorcount.org/autumn-repor...
📸 @barthoekstra.bsky.social
You can now read our extensive report of the past count season, packed with beautiful photos! Of course, don't forget to scroll down for the behind-the-scenes gallery!
➡️ www.batumiraptorcount.org/autumn-repor...
📸 @barthoekstra.bsky.social
Love those long-term research projects!
Have you ever followed the lifespans of a perennial plant? @cmhmaliani.bsky.social followed 128 plants over 38 yrs & showed that certain lifetime trajectories had fitness advantages!
Published in a "low-impact" journal @ecosistemas-aeet.bsky.social
www.revistaecosistemas.net/index.php/ec...
🧪🌍🌿🌾🌱
Published in a "low-impact" journal @ecosistemas-aeet.bsky.social
www.revistaecosistemas.net/index.php/ec...
🧪🌍🌿🌾🌱
December 15, 2024 at 6:56 AM
Love those long-term research projects!