The results of the gender determination for 2023 are available: In total considerably more females (11/13) than males (2/13) were captured. This bias in the sex composition was already observed in the previous year as well as in the previous project DIVER. Whether this recurring observation...
Apr
The first field trip of the second field season in 2023 was successfully completed and we caught, ringed and equipped a total of 10 red-throated divers with transmitters. Most of the divers were moulting (from winter plumage to breeding plumage) but some were already fully...
In recent months, we have been able to collect extensive GPS data on the detailed movements of red-throated divers, both in the wintering area and during the home migration, the breeding season, and during the autumn migration to the moulting and wintering areas. It can...
The gender determination of the red-throated divers has revealed that approx. 2/3 of the birds are female (15/22) and 2/3 of the red-throated divers are male (7/22). Already in the first two years of the DIVER project (2015 and 2016), females were caught more often...
The breeding season of the red-throated divers is over and just in time for the beginning of autumn the birds come back from their northern, Arctic breeding grounds. 3 red-throated divers are already back in the German or Danish North Sea. While 2 of these individuals...
After the red-throated divers have been successfully equipped with loggers in the last weeks, most of them are still in the North Sea. However, some of them are already on their way to their breeding grounds, for example the red-throated diver with the logger number...
May
After red-throated divers were equipped with internal loggers, they were kept in padded and well-ventilated transport boxes in a quiet place before being released as close as possible to where they were captured. Divers which were equipped with external loggers were released immediately after the...
During our fieldwork, we equipped red-throated divers with external as well as implanted loggers. The decision about which logger type to use for which animal depended, among other things, on whether the bird was moulting. In spring, divers moult from their wintering plumage into breeding...
The first field season in the DiverLog project was completed very successfully. Within the last 3 months, the catching team spent 6 nights in the German bay west of Sylt to catch red-throated divers from a dinghy equipped with a spotlight and a hand net. In...
Feb
After successful completion of the DIVER Project, we are entering phase two. Beginning in March 2022 we will focus on Red-throated Divers. Aim of the new study to use novel GPS technology to not only record detailed movement data of individual birds during the winter,...