Papers

Papers

BTO publishes peer-reviewed papers in a wide range of scientific journals, both independently and with our partners. If you are unable to access a scientific paper by a BTO author, please contact us.

Search filters

Order by

Urban and coastal breeding lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus) segregate by foraging habitat

Author:

Published: 2022

A collaboration between BTO, Natural England and University of Exeter researchers used GPS-tracking technology to compare the movements and habitat use of Lesser Black-backed Gulls breeding at neighbouring coastal and urban colonies in Cumbria, northern England. The study found that the distance birds covered making foraging trips and the size of their 'home ranges' – the area that an individual bird uses on a daily basis during foraging, breeding and roosting activities – differed between the urban and coastal colonies and revealed a marked segregation in habitat choice.

11.07.22

Papers

View on journal website

Breeding ground temperature rises, more than habitat change, are associated with spatially variable population trends in two species of migratory bird

Author:

Published: 2022

BTO research has examined the effects of climate change and habitat loss on the population trends of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. These closely related songbirds, tricky to distinguish by eye, share breeding grounds across the UK but migrate to different wintering grounds. While Chiffchaffs mainly migrate to south-west Europe and north-west Africa, with a small number remaining in the UK, Willow Warblers head across the Sahara to the humid zone in central Africa.

03.07.22

Papers

View on journal website

Relative roles of static and dynamic abiotic conditions as drivers of foraging behaviour in breeding Sandwich Terns

Author:

Published: 2022

New research involving BTO used GPS tagging to examine Sandwich Tern foraging behaviour during the breeding season. Like other seabirds, Sandwich Terns are so-called ‘central place foragers’ while they are incubating eggs and feeding chicks, shuttling to and from their nest site in search of food. However, successfully finding food on each trip away from the nest requires navigating a continually changing marine environment and relocating moving prey.

30.06.22

Papers

A 30,000-km journey by Apus apus pekinensis tracks arid lands between northern China and south-western Africa

Author:

Published: 2022

The Swift is widely distributed with a cross-continental breeding range spanning Europe and large parts of Asia and north Africa. Until recently, Swift migration research has focused on populations which breed in Europe and north-western Africa (the apus subspecies), leaving the migration of birds breeding throughout Asia (the pekinensis subspecies) shrouded in mystery.

29.06.22

Papers

View on journal website

Scroll down