The Tour du Valat and its scientific partners in the Netherlands are trying to better understand the migratory behaviour of Eurasian Spoonbills as they travel between their breeding areas in Europe, and their wintering areas in southern Europe and Africa.
While some individuals in this species can make migratory journeys of several thousand kilometres in the autumn and spring, the environmental and genetic factors that regulate their behaviour, and will enable this species to better adapt to the global changes already occurring, are still not yet well understood.
You can now participate in this major participatory project started in 2019 by following the movements of Eurasian Spoonbills equipped with GPS tags in real time, observing them in the field, and sending your sighting observations to the Tour du Valat and its Dutch partner (learn more on this page [1]).
COVID and the low breeding success this year did not allow more than one Eurasian Spoonbill in the Camargue and 6 in the Netherlands to be equipped for this project. Already three of these Eurasian Spoonbill have started their migration:
- Nadia, which left the Netherlands on September 14, crossed France and joined Spain;
- Maya, which left the Netherlands on September 17, is on a migratory stopover in the Baie de Somme;
- As for Fabio, who left the Camargue on September 14, has already been observed in the Aude by our colleagues from Aude Nature. [2]
Thank you for participating!