Stories from the field

Imagine you are a criminal in exile or an escaped slave. Where would you go? On a quasi-uninhabited island, you seek out the most inhospitable places. This is precisely how human civilization found its way to Cirque de Mafate. Fortunately, the era of the slave trade is behind us, and we no longer send criminals into exile on remote islands. Yet people still live in Mafate - and yes, often they are descendants of escaped slaves. From the comfort of your seat, you might wonder why people still live in a place that can only be reached on foot (or by helicopter). But I can assure you: once you experience such a place for yourself, you understand all too well!

Reunion is a volcanic island in the Indian Ocean, located between Madagascar and Mauritius. Due to its particular genesis and remote location, a unique flora and fauna community occurs here, creating unparalleled landscapes. This blog is the first part of a series discussing the highlights of this trip and focuses on Roche Écrite. This breathtaking landscape was the first highlight of the GRR1, a famous long-distance hiking route that crosses the island from north to south and which I walked myself.

When I planned my trip to Reunion, my goal was to see as many bird species as possible. Réunion's bird diversity is relatively modest, with around 50 bird species, including 8 to 10 endemics, depending on whether subspecies are counted. Many introduced species, such as the Japanese nightingale and the red-whiskered bulbul, inhabit the island too. Frankly, Réunion's ecosystem is no longer as pristine as it was when humans did not know of its existence. One species that immediately caught my eye - despite its seemingly unremarkable plumage - was the Réunion cuckoo-shrike, known locally as the tuit-tuit. This species is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. I was lucky enough to observe one. I discovered that it is not just a bird but a creature with a remarkable story!

Jump for joy echoes through the boxes of the minibus. Although it is still early, around 7 a.m., the first part of our day is already behind us. The song aptly fits the behavior of the birds we observed some moments before. It is the ruff, a flamboyant wader species, that captures the imagination. The University of Oulu and the Max-Planck Institute conduct a lot of behavioral and ecological research here, aiming to understand the evolution behind this intriguing species. Many ornithologists dream of witnessing the courtship ritual of this species. I was lucky enough to be able to follow the goings-on of the testosterone-filled males closely. If you thought human relationships can be complicated, you haven't heard about the ruff!

The dunlin is a shorebird species with an extensive distribution in the northern hemisphere. Several subspecies are known, and this blog highlights a particular one: the southern dunlin, or in fancy scientific words, Calidris alpina ssp. schinzii. While you may know the dunlin as a common wader on migration in Western Europe, the southern dunlin is critically endangered in the coastal meadows around the Gulf of Bothnia. For more than twenty years, a team led by Kari Koivula and Veli-Matti Pakkanen has been working to uncover answers about the troubling decline of this iconic shorebird. This summer, I could join the team in Oulu and experience how the research on the conservation of this subspecies is done. Join me on this journey!

Lapland is known for its vast, untouched nature. You can still find vast wilderness here. You can immerse yourself in nature and shut yourself off from everything that has to do with civilization—maybe a radical idea, but one that appeals to me in a certain way. An escape from the information storm where you find yourself in everyday life. No news, no messages, no cute cat videos on YouTube, and so on. Something difficult to achieve in practice. During the last week of October, I did a 6-day sole hike in the Urho Kerkkonen National Park, an approximately 2,550 km² extensive, largely untouched wilderness. The ideal way to seek out in the wilderness for the first time - or maybe more correctly to listen to the lure of the wilderness.

One of the most widely used methods to study bird migration is bird ringing. In Tauvo, a hamlet about 50 km from Oulu, they started ringing in the 1970s. I got the chance to visit the station twice in autumn 2021. Below I explain how ringing works, and why Tauvo is such a special location.