Birds On The Move

🆘We need YOU🆘 This year we made a special effort to ring many #WhiteStork juveniles and now we need to know where they are! So we are kindly asking birdwatchers in Portugal, Spain and Morocco to please send us your observations of White Storks with blue rings and a + sign!🙌

📢📢PhD opportunity! We are looking for enthusiastic researchers to develop a project looking at the ontogeny of migratory behaviour! Deadline for expression of interest: 8 February 2026 👉Check details here: drive.google.com/file/d/1wow2sX… #migration #ornithology #GPStracking

What drives the loss of migration in large long-lived birds? Andrade et al. combine genomics, census and tracking data of white storks, highlighting the role of developmental plasticity in driving fast responses to environmental conditions🪽 buff.ly/g7BwN2x @BirdsMove

We are already in October, but some of our #WhiteStork fledglings are still reluctant to cross the Straits! Although named after a Portuguese island, Berlenga - unlike many famous Portuguese sailors - does not seem to be at the forefront of European overseas exploration!

In the meantime, other #WhiteStorks are still struggling to cross the Strait of Gibraltar! Juveniles Borealis (in red) and Farilhão (in yellow) have been trying to cross the Straits for 2 days now, without success! #BirdMigration @CIBIO_InBIO

As August progresses, our #WhiteStork fledglings are leaving their breeding areas. Some have already crossed Gibraltar, where 150,000 (!) storks use the strait each autumn to reach Africa, then navigate the Atlas Mountains and venture across the Sahara to their wintering areas.

Yesterday our friends @Otis_inglorius counted 11,000 (!) #WhiteStorks crossing the Strait of Gibraltar! And 4 of our juveniles were there, crossing at ~12h UTC😍 2-year-old Fernão was late to the party and did not cross. Instead, he decided to stop at the landfill for a snack 🍔

Et Voilá! Our first 2024 juvenile #WhiteStork is off, having crossed the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday!

and also with data from our Black Storks!

We are very happy to have contributed with our #WhiteStork tracking dataset to this important research, highlighting the human-induced mortality on migratory birds. @CIBIO_InBIO @ueaenv

Our newborn #WhiteStorks are famous! Today they were interviewed by @AFP and they had a lot to say 😍

¡Primer huevo en el nido!👏😄 Cuando el macho llega con material la hembra se levanta y deja ver el 🥚. 🔴Sigue la emisión en directo desde seo.org/camaras #camaraSEO #cigueña #live

Our field season has officially begun! 😍 Last week we visited our #WhiteStork colonies in Portugal and there were already full clutches with 5 eggs! 🤯 Our White Storks are not wasting any time!

@Otis_inglorius @FundacionMigres Thank you! Our adults are all in their nests in Portugal for a while now, but the immatures are (almost all) in Africa still. So we hope to see them crossing in the upcoming months! :)

@BirdsMove @FundacionMigres We are seeing some groups still and will for sometime but most have already crossed between Nov and Feb.

And the 2024 award for our "First juvenile #WhiteStork to return to Iberia" goes to... Machu! 🍀 Machu crossed the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday at around 12h. @FundacionMigres and @Otis_inglorius - are there many White Storks crossing the Straits these days? 😍

After spending the winter in Senegal and Mauritania, Marcela, one of our GPS-tracked #BlackStorks, is now back in Portugal! At 3 years old, Marcela is behaving more and more like an adult black stork. Will Marcela try to breed this year for the first time?!😍 @CIBIO_InBIO

Amazing effort to get so many #birdmigration researchers all together in the same room! We're very happy to be in Jastarnia, representing our migrating Portuguese #WhiteStorks! #EUFLYNET @EUFLYNET

Spring is coming and our young #WhiteStork seem to feel it! Big movements in the last days, the first journey back has begun and we hope to see them soon! #Migration

Our work with #BlackStorks is featured in this month's edition of National Geogrpahic Portugal! The article was written by Hugo Marques, who is also the author of the incredible photos! @NatGeo @CIBIO_InBIO

📢📢PhD opportunity! We are looking for enthusiastic researchers to develop a project looking at the ontogeny of migratory behaviour! 👉Check details here: drive.google.com/file/d/1r3hnfn… #migration #ornithology #GPStracking

Happy holidays, from our team @BirdsMove! #whitestorks