In the days of big data sets and complex analyses, it is pleasing that local, focused studies can still answer specific gaps in our understanding of migratory behaviour. Ron Summers and his colleagues have responded to a comment by Patrick Thompson, at the end of his contribution to The Migration Atlas, published by BTO in 2002: “… it is of major concern that we know so little about where Scottish birds [Greenshank] go once they leave the breeding grounds.” With a small number of geolocators and a few dozen plastic colour-rings, they are now able to answer this implied question, in a 2020 paper in Bird Study.
On the edge of range
Greenshank (or Common Greenshank) breed across the boreal zone of the Palearctic, from eastern Siberia in the east to Scotland in the west. The map below, produced by BirdLife International clearly shows that Scottish Greenshank lie at…
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