Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · 6d

170K raptors! 🤯

8 yrs in the making, but I’ve finally witnessed a 100k+ raptors day while on the station actually counting the bulk of it. Incredible experience. Still feeling cross-eyed from staring through the scope non-stop for almost 10hrs.

📸: the Shuamta team at the end of this incredible day

Team photo of the Shuamta team which counted 145k of the 170k raptors yesterday. I’m on the right.

1 3 14

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Jeff Berardelli @weatherprof.bsky.social · 8d

Some rare and remarkable processes are taking place this week, that we are not likely to observe for a long time!
These 2 Atlantic hurricanes are closer than any since at least the 1960s. They are now connected - in each other’s orbit, pivoting. Follow along 1/

32 170 490

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Jeannette Eggers @jeannetteeggers.bsky.social · 9d

"We studied more than 70 different elections that took place in 12 western European countries over several decades, and found that when mainstream parties take more anti-immigration positions, it leads to more support for the radical right, not less."

Our research makes it clear: by capitulating to the right, Labour is driving voters to Reform UK | Tarik Abou-Chadi and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte

Mimicking Farage on immigration is senseless. Labour voters feel betrayed; anti-immigration voters see through the ruse, say academics Tarik Abou-Chadi and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte

www.theguardian.com

4 140 240

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 13d

I honestly don't think everyone talks enough about how amazing it was when the world came together to fix the hole in the ozone layer, so I wrote this:

everythingisamazing.substack.com/p/lets-all-r...

It's a good reminder of what we're capable of.

Let's All Remember When We Saved The World

To remind ourselves we can do it again.

everythingisamazing.substack.com

9 150 480

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Jeroen Reneerkens @jeroen-reneerkens.bsky.social · 13d

A vagrant juvenile Sanderling turned up in Israel—likely after a single non-stop flight from the Dutch Wadden Sea. Here’s thread explaining why that’s remarkable and interesting. @wadertales.bsky.social @globalflyway.bsky.social #Birds #Migration

The colour-marked Sanderling photographed in Israel, still carrying its radiotransmitter

2 16 54

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Cecilia Nilsson @cnilsson.science · 16d

Are animals randomly distributed in the air, or is there a structure to where and when we find them? In our new paper we outline factors that shape habitat use in the air, from abiotic structure to biotic interactions. A lot of fun discussions behind this one! 🦅🦋🦇🌬
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Animal niches in the airspace

For flying animals, including many birds, bats, and insects, the air is a crucial arena for a range of behaviors. Technological advances, such as year-round tracking of flight altitudes and expanded u...

www.cell.com

1 13 30

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 19d

Jon Stewart's Post-Kimmel Primer on Free Speech in the Glorious Trump Era

youtu.be/_GXNJ3V9lzg

Jon Stewart's Post-Kimmel Primer on Free Speech in the Glorious Trump Era | The Daily Show

YouTube video by The Daily Show

youtu.be

130 790 2.3K

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 21d

ONE MILLION RAPTORS!

The wait is over... Today #BRC17 hit the earliest 1-million mark in BRC history! Usually, this happens around end-September, but this year the raptors clearly had other plans.

And with still over a month to go, we expect plenty more to come!

1/2
#ornithology #RaptorResearch

One of many kettles of Black Kites we've counted over the past days. Photo by Sander Bruylants.

A crisp juvenile Lesser Spotted Eagle in beautiful light. Photo by Sander Bruylants.

Screenshot of our live seasonal raptor 'counter' on the website.

1 5 19

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · 26d

One of the best talks I’ve seen this CWW — and that’s coming from a bird guy

1

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 27d

A good day to read about #aeroecology—and to appreciate the work being done by the good people at @nycbirdalliance.org and @cornellbirds.bsky.social to protect migratory birds. The #TributeinLight monitoring they do is so important (and respectful). 🌎 🐦 #ornithology #conservation

NYC Bird Alliance @nycbirdalliance.org · Sep 3

The sky is a complex habitat! We're excited to be featured in @smithsonianmag.bsky.social for our annual monitoring and artificial light research with @cornellbirds.bsky.social at the #TributeinLight.
https://loom.ly/Bix4wFk

The New Science of Aeroecology Reveals So Much About the Amazing Creatures That Populate the Skies and How Humans Can Ensure Their Survival

The sky above us is a complex ecosystem, just like the land and sea. A new field of research is bringing a fresh understanding of the birds, bugs and other species that live there

www.smithsonianmag.com

1 4 5

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 29d

A new study led by @moveandconserve.bsky.social used GPS tracking to test the monitoring potential of Eilat and Batumi.

An invaluable step toward linking counted birds to their origins, but we found it needed some elaboration from a migration count perspective!

Our commentary: tinyurl.com/nnbzu7kc

One million raptors: But where do they come from? — Batumi Raptor Count

As a migration counter, you can’t help but wonder: “Where did the bird I just tallied come from, and where is it going?” In light of BRC’s main aim — monitoring raptor population trends — this very ...

tinyurl.com

1 5 10

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · 29d

A slippery slope if you think about khachapuri every time you go through your office door 😬😅

1

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · Sep 8

The results are very much a shared achievement, made possible by our “radar group” and close collaborators: Bart Kranstauber, Maja Bradarić, Johannes De Groeve, Stacy Shinneman, Berend Wijers, Hidde Leijnse, @hansvangasteren.bsky.social, Adriaan Dokter, Emiel van Loon and @judyshamounb.bsky.social

1

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · Sep 8

Tomorrow at #CWW2025 I’ll present new work on using weather radars (the ones you check for 🌧️) to map nocturnal bird migration to support wind energy planning.

Join my talk at 11:30 (Auditorium Pasteur) to see how this can improve impact assessments and enable a more nature-inclusive energy future.

The opening slide of the presentation titled ‘Large-scale radar-based mapping of nocturnal bird migration for avoidance and minimisation of wind energy impacts’.

1 3

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · Sep 8

Some asked if we had a ‘beef’ with Efrat et al. — quite the contrary! Their elegant work merited a proper response, so we wrote a letter to share our view on their work and long-standing Qs about migration counts.

If the khachapuri doesn't get to us first, we still fit together through one door! 😁

Ron Efrat @moveandconserve.bsky.social · Sep 8

So they wrote a comment www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

They raised some good points, improving our initial work, and allowing us to address a few more aspects of our work

@barthoekstra.bsky.social @tohar-tal.bsky.social @wmgvs.bsky.social

#conservation #ornithology 🧪🐾🌎

Toward integrating migration counts and GPS tracking for flyway-scale avian population monitoring — A response to

www.sciencedirect.com

1 2 7

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Ron Efrat @moveandconserve.bsky.social · Sep 8

Science as a conversation:

In January, we published a paper about migratory bird counts www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

For different reasons, we did not include the managers of the bird counts. But the @batumiraptorcount.org people had some important comments
#conservation #ornithology 🧪🐾🌎

Using GPS tracking data to validate the conservation value of bird migration counts

Effective conservation of migratory birds requires gathering of information about their population trends, often acquired using migratory bird counts.…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 6 12

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Sep 6

HALF A MILLION RAPTORS! 🦅

After a few slower days (~30K+), #BRC17 hit the absolute jackpot yesterday!

Around 11 am, the floodgates opened — massive streams of Honey Buzzards & Black Kites pushed us past 100K raptors in a single day! Bringing the season total to 540K😍

🧵1/3

Video by Zülfü Farajli

1 7 24

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · Sep 3

Things are really kicking off now at #BRC17. Although by no means the most diverse period for raptor migration in Batumi, there is little as humbling as standing below a sky filled with thousands, tens of thousands, or even over a hundred thousand Honey Buzzards ‘marching’ onwards to Africa.

Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Sep 3

The Honey Buzzards have well and truly arrived, so the first 296,911 have already been counted #BRC17 🪶. It's been a period of everything: rain, fog, blazing sun, and then suddenly the sky explodes with raptors in typical Batumi fashion.

The team's report:
www.batumiraptorcount.org/brc17/2025/8...

The Honey Buzzards have arrived! — Batumi Raptor Count

What week it has been in the bottleneck! The weather threw everything at us—rain, fog, blazing sun—but the migration didn’t stop, and neither did we.

www.batumiraptorcount.org

6

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Aug 27

This is an INSANE decision by the E.U.

“By signing up to mutual recognition of vehicle standards with the U.S., the E.U. has waved the white flag on road safety. This is not a technical detail – it is a political choice that puts trade convenience ahead of saving lives.”

This will kill people.

ETSC: Mutual recognition deal with U.S. will cost lives on Europe’s roads

By signing up to mutual recognition of vehicle standards with the United States, the European Union has waved the white flag on road safety. This is not a technical detail – it is a political choice…

etsc.eu

100 1.1K 2.1K

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · Aug 29

2 out of 4 at least 🤦‍♂️

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · Aug 28

I already regret removing a suggestive ‘weaponisation of birds for anti-wind litigation’ from a paper I submitted, which has since been desk-rejected 4 times. Journal editors, are you paying attention?

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · Aug 28

Scoop: The Trump administration appears to be considering a move to label wind farms as intentionally harming migratory birds, a classification that would in the eyes of some legal experts label *any* project illegal.

It would definitely be fought in court if pursued. @heatmap.news

Birds Could Be the Anti-Wind Trump Card

How the Migratory Bird Treaty Act could become the administration’s ultimate weapon against wind farms.

heatmap.news

1 1

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · Aug 28

Scoop: The Trump administration appears to be considering a move to label wind farms as intentionally harming migratory birds, a classification that would in the eyes of some legal experts label *any* project illegal.

It would definitely be fought in court if pursued. @heatmap.news

Birds Could Be the Anti-Wind Trump Card

How the Migratory Bird Treaty Act could become the administration’s ultimate weapon against wind farms.

heatmap.news

18 57 140

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Doug McVay @dougmcvay.bsky.social · Aug 28

"The findings confirm that, while Twitter was once the platform of choice for a majority of science communicators, those same people have since abandoned it in droves. And of the alternatives available, Bluesky seems to be their new platform of choice."
arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Bluesky now platform of choice for science community

It’s not just you. Survey says: “Twitter sucks now and all the cool kids are moving to Bluesky”…

arstechnica.com

4 44 190

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · Aug 28

A literal ‘cool’ map indeed. Frightening…

1

Reposted by Bart Hoekstra

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · Aug 27

A return of sea ice to the North Sea, 80-100 nights with sub-zero temperatures a year, an accelerated sea-level rise and less precipitation. Dramatic changes for just about any aspect of life in Western Europe.

Paper: doi.org/10.1029/2025... 🧪
Visualisation/interactive map 👇

Kees van der Leun @sustainable2050.bsky.social · Aug 27

So what would happen if AMOC collapsed? Difficult question, but here's a tool to experiment with, by the same authors:
amocscenarios.org?lat=52&lon=5...

AMOC Collapse Visualisation Map

The interactive map that shows you the effects worldwide of climate change scenarios and the AMOC current collapsing

amocscenarios.org

1 11 31