Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 1d

3️⃣/3️⃣
We are going to see more papers about breeding densities of nesting waders, based on remote monitoring of calls and displays.
Paper by Jarrett and Willis reminds us that we need to think about behaviour:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/c...
#ConservationScience🌍

3

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 1d

2️⃣/3️⃣
"Chick squeaks"
Amazing insights into the noises that wader chicks make:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/03/01/c...
#AnimalBehaviour

1 3

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 1d

1️⃣/3️⃣
Are you interested in the calls that waders/shorebirds make?
@waderstudy.bsky.social have kindly made a 'Perspectives' article available as 'open access'.
www.waderstudygroup.org/article/19261/
See thread for two WaderTales blogs about wader calls 👇
#ornithology

1 4 9

Reposted by Graham Appleton

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 6d

One of the benefits of studying wader migration is that you learn how interconnected places are.
The world seems smaller and country borders seem trivial.
Black-tailed Godwit blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
#ornithology

11 26

Reposted by Graham Appleton

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 3d

Studying breeding waders sometimes involves catching chicks multiple times.
Do these intensive studies have negative effects on chick growth?
Blog about reassuring paper by Camilo Carneiro et al from 5 Oct 2024 🎂
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/10/05/h...

How do wader chicks respond to being handled?

Every wader researcher knows that their actions can have negative consequences for the birds they are studying. Given that most shorebird species are in trouble or causing concern, conservation sci…

wadertales.wordpress.com

2 11 18

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 3d

Studying breeding waders sometimes involves catching chicks multiple times.
Do these intensive studies have negative effects on chick growth?
Blog about reassuring paper by Camilo Carneiro et al from 5 Oct 2024 🎂
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/10/05/h...

How do wader chicks respond to being handled?

Every wader researcher knows that their actions can have negative consequences for the birds they are studying. Given that most shorebird species are in trouble or causing concern, conservation sci…

wadertales.wordpress.com

2 11 18

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 4d

On this day in 2022, I was lamenting the addition of the tenth and eleventh waders to the UK red list:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/10/04/u... 🎂3️⃣
#ukbirding #birds

1 1 9

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 5d

Even small waders may take a gap year:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/g...

Gap years for sandpipers

Will this Semipalmated Sandpiper fly north to breed? With the approach of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, waders (shorebirds) that have spent the previous few months on the shores of Africa, the…

wadertales.wordpress.com

1

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 5d

Reminder!
@jeroen-reneerkens.bsky.social appreciates reports of colour-ringed Sanderlings:
submit.cr-birding.org/projects/181/
Counts of adult/juvenile Sanderlings in flocks are great too.
Blog about the Greenland Sanderling project:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/10/04/t...
📷 @markaeaton.bsky.social

10 10

Reposted by Graham Appleton

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · Aug 28

Teenage waders?
Shorebirds - particulalry larger species - may not breed until they are 2, 3 or 4.
But what do these 'teenagers do' - and how does this impact upon their conservation?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/t...
🎂5️⃣
#ornithology

Teenage waders

Hudsonian Godwit in breeding plumage A paper by Juan Navedo & Jorge Ruiz, focusing on Hudsonian Godwits, raises important points about the conservation of the world’s larger shorebirds. Many cu…

wadertales.wordpress.com

1 6 17

Reposted by Graham Appleton

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · Sep 4

Lovely video.
Where will this juvenile Sanderling spend the next few months? Somewhere between Rye and South Africa.
Wintering conditions will determine if it will migrate north in spring.
Blog about fascinating paper by @jeroen-reneerkens.bsky.social
wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/10/04/t...

Barry Yates @rxnature.bsky.social · Sep 4

A juvenile Sanderling feeding on the shore this afternoon @ryeharbournr
One of a group of four.
Slowed to quarter speed, because they are so frantic...
@wadertales.bsky.social

4 21

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 6d

One of the benefits of studying wader migration is that you learn how interconnected places are.
The world seems smaller and country borders seem trivial.
Black-tailed Godwit blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
#ornithology

11 26

Reposted by Graham Appleton

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 10d

🎂 WaderTales is 🔟 today 🎂
150 blogs
wadertales.wordpress.com/about/
310,000 reads
Thank you to all of the scientists, bird ringers and colour-ring readers who have contributed to the science described in the tales!
Thread with highlights:
bsky.app/profile/wade...
#ornithology

12 21

Reposted by Graham Appleton

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 13d

Sanderling
Netherlands to Israel!
Greenlandic or Siberian?
Great thread by Jeroen.
Blog about his migration research:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/10/04/t...
#ornithology

3 13

Reposted by Graham Appleton

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 10d

10 years ago, I published the first WaderTales blog.
Based on a paper by @tomasgunnarsson.bsky.social et al, it explains "How volcanic eruptions help waders".
wadertales.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/t...
Ten years on, and there are 150 WaderTales blogs:
wadertales.wordpress.com/about/
#ornithology

2 5 20

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 10d

Scores of ornithologists have kindly allowed me to tell their stories.
243,000 people in 209 countries (as defined by WordPress) have read one or more WaderTales.
MANY THANKS to all the people who have helped to promote the blogs!
#waders #shorebirds

6

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 10d

10 years ago, I published the first WaderTales blog.
Based on a paper by @tomasgunnarsson.bsky.social et al, it explains "How volcanic eruptions help waders".
wadertales.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/t...
Ten years on, and there are 150 WaderTales blogs:
wadertales.wordpress.com/about/
#ornithology

2 5 20

Reposted by Graham Appleton

Steve Dudley @stevedudley.bsky.social · 10d

#LymeDisease is an awful condition I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I contracted it in 1997 and have suffered terribly since. It was also a key trigger for my Fibromyalgia. The two have some very similar and overlapping conditions. Bottom line, they’re crap. And things only get worse with age.

Patrick Barkham @patrickbarkham.bsky.social · 11d

If you pick up the Guardian Weekend Magazine today, please read about my daughter Milly’s battle with Lyme disease. And if you’re feeling bold, drop your copy into your local GP. There are thousands of Millys out there. Most are currently not helped at all by the NHS or, worse, not believed.

Photo of page from Guardian Weekend magazine showing Patrick’s 13-year-old daughter Milly and the starting words of a long feature story about her battle with Lyme Disease which was missed by the NHS for years.

4 7 24

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 10d

🎂 WaderTales is 🔟 today 🎂
150 blogs
wadertales.wordpress.com/about/
310,000 reads
Thank you to all of the scientists, bird ringers and colour-ring readers who have contributed to the science described in the tales!
Thread with highlights:
bsky.app/profile/wade...
#ornithology

12 21

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 11d

WaderTales at 🔟
The end of the thread. 'Tweet' number 27.
How are scientists using tracking to deliver conservation goals?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/m...
Map of Whimbrel tracks 👇
#ornithology

3 6

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 12d

But how successful is headstarting?
Important paper from the Project Godwit team was at the heart of WaderTales blog #138, published on 26 Sep 2024:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/09/26/h...
#ConservationScience🌍

2 16

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 12d

Two days before WaderTales celebrates its 🔟th anniversary.
Two recent blogs - worrying news for Iceland's breeding waders & identifying conservation hotspots.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/02/20/i...
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/i...
Research led by @tomasgunnarsson.bsky.social
#ornithology

1 5 9

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 13d

The saddest blog in 🔟 years of WaderTales.
What lessons can we learn from the demise of the Slender-billed Curlew?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/12/l...
Paper by Graeme Buchanan et al. in @bou.org.uk journal.
#ornithology

1 5 10

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 13d

Sanderling
Netherlands to Israel!
Greenlandic or Siberian?
Great thread by Jeroen.
Blog about his migration research:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/10/04/t...
#ornithology

3 13

Reposted by Graham Appleton

Graham Appleton @wadertales.bsky.social · 14d

Listening in - some things to think about when using sound recordings to monitor breeding waders.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/c...
Paper by David Jarrett & Stephen Willis in @bou.org.uk journal.
🔟 years of WaderTales
#ornithology

1 4 6