The report in the newspaper Público, titled ‘In the Tejo estuary, birds are captured to learn from them,’ follows a team of researchers during a night of bird capture and ringing as part of our student João Belo’s doctoral research. As mentioned in the report: “The information that will emerge from this will allow João to understand the movements of the birds within the Tejo estuary and, by cross-referencing this data with other information collected by the biologist, it is hoped that we can determine whether they are using the best feeding areas and, if not, why.”

José Alves, the lead researcher and João Belo’s supervisor, also explains in the report that the GPS devices used for João’s more localized research also serve for studying migratory connectivity. In communication with CESAM, José Alves further emphasizes the idea that “It is essential to communicate our research in biodiversity so that society becomes aware of the biological richness we (still) have because without knowing it, there will be no reason to value and protect it. Furthermore, understanding the teamwork that underlies the scientific content produced in this field also demonstrates the level of technical knowledge and the commitment of the researchers, which goes far beyond what one can imagine. For example, in our case, not everyone is willing to sacrifice nights of sleep, toil in the cold and darkness in the mud, and subject themselves to such conditions to learn and train bird capture and ringing techniques, all in order to contribute to these research efforts.