The magazine ARDEA, published by the association of Dutch ornithologists (NOU) since 1912, highlights on the cover of its most recent issue the article led by Ana Coelho , CESAM PhD student who recently defended her thesis (December 2023).
This article is one of the results of the Waders of the Bijagós project and reveals the seasonal variation in the diet of 8 species of waders that migrate to and pass through the Bijagos archipelago its non-breeding season. Research shows that during preparation for return migrations to breeding areas, in northern Europe and the Arctic, these species change their diet in a more noticeable way. This may reflect changes in the abundance of their prey or in their selectivity on the part of the birds, which at this stage must acquire substantial energy reserves for migratory flights.
Link to article: https://ardea.nou.nu/ardea_show_abstract.php?lang=uk&nr=4455
The cover of the magazine highlights one of the most abundant species of waders in this archipelago, the Galician sandpiper (Numenius phaeopus), a bird that holds the record for non-stop migratory flights on the East Atlantic migratory route, continuously flying thousands of kilometers between the Iceland (where it breeds) and West Africa where it spends the non-breeding season. Interestingly, the same team of CESAM researchers recently discovered that juveniles of this species also make these long migrations without any stops when they are only around 60 days old. By leaving Iceland significantly later than adults, they embark, in most cases, at their own risk on an ocean crossing that they do not know when it will end.
Link to this other article:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.13282