Post by University of Groningen

Spring arrives earlier due to climate change, leaving birds in a race against spring. C. Both (Faculty of Science and Engineering - University of Groningen) studies the capability of birds to adapt their breeding season to the earlier arrival of spring. The Professor of Animal Ecology was one of the researchers 25 years ago who discovered this mismatch between the breeding season and the food peak, as most birds laid their eggs when the peak in caterpillar numbers had already passed. By closely monitoring birds in nest boxes, a great deal of useful information on, for instance, great tits and pied flycatchers was gathered. Both also experimented with birds’ ability to catch up with spring by bringing Dutch birds to Sweden: ‘some disappeared, others flew straight back to the Netherlands, but about a third went on to breed locally with a Swedish male. Those mixed Dutch-Swedish pairs bred two weeks earlier than local Swedish pairs, and produced almost twice as many chicks. So yes, flying directly to Sweden would indeed be a successful strategy for Dutch pied flycatchers.’ Read the entire article about Both’s work by clicking the link below.👇 https://lnkd.in/ey_nkpe9 #spring #breedingseason #birds #universityofgroningen #rijksuniversiteitgroningen Photo: Herman Engbers, De Beeldunie