Last week some of the @btobirds.bsky.social surveys team were in Riga in Latvia, joining bird monitoring folk from over 40 European countries at the #BirdNumbers2025 conference ⬇️
#Ornithology

My time at #BirdNumbers2025 in Riga is up. What a fantastic conference expertly organised by Oskars, Ainars, the brilliant student volunteers and the Latvian OrnithologicalSociety. Participants from 40 countries. Superb plenaries, talks, excursion and weather! Very many happy memories made.

A row of European Birds Census Council chairpersons. Right to left, Richard Gregory (2004-10), Ruud Foppen (2010-19), me (2019-23), Verena Keller (2023-25) and Sergi Herrando (2025 to ?)

Final personal photo from the #BirdNumbers2025 conference in Riga. The last four European Bird Census Council chairs, and the new guy. Right to left, Richard Gregory (2004-10), Ruud Foppen (2010-19), me (2019-23), Verena Keller (2023-25) and Sergi Herrando (2025 to ?).

Cover slide for Dawns talk. Razorbill image, by Sarah Kelman.

Dawn presenting, by Teresa Frost

Dawn presenting, by Neil Calbrade

Today, Dawn presented a talk on the development work underway for the Seabird Monitoring Programme - everything from methods & engagement to trend production & reporting, there's a lot of exciting things ahead! 🥳

@btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social #seabirds #BirdNumbers2025

David Noble, James Heywood, Neil Calbrade, Teresa Frost, Dawn Balmer and Stephen Baillie at EBCC's Bird Numbers 2025 conference. Image: Dawn Balmer

Attendees at Bird Numbers 2025, by Dawn Balmer.

This week, @btobirds.bsky.social Surveys Team members, a Head & Principal Ecologist, and an Honorary Research Fellow have been at Riga for the European Bird Census Council's annual conference, #BirdNumbers2025.

Dawn Balmer has been representing the Seabird Monitoring Programme. ⬇️

'The use of agri-environmental measures by the skylark in Germany'. A talk by Jannik Beninde in #birdnumbers2025.

Starlings are foraging maize inside cattle farms causing conflicts. Main time in Aug-Oct. No salmonella was found on sampled birds. A talk by Henning Heldbjerg in #birdnumbers2025.

'Threat and managent of #Natura2000 protected areas in relation to current agricultural practices'. A talk by Giorgio Zavattoni @utu.fi in #birdnumbers2025.

'Differing population trends in birds and butterflies in boreal agricultural landscapes'. A great talk by Sarella Arkkila @hkilabornithology.bsky.social in #birdnumbers2025.

@nathist.bsky.social @helsinki.fi

Ways to improve situation of farmland birds based work by Adriana Holoskova and Jiri Reif in #birdnumbers2025:
- increase heterogeneity
- decrease field size
- increase organic farming

#EBBALive is a project which aims to update species occurrence maps in a couple of years of intervals on European level. A talk by Guillem Pocull in #birdnumbers2025.
Website:
ebba2.info/live/farmland/

Buffer strips had significantly higher farmland bird densities than control areas in Slovakia. A talk by Adriana Holoskova in #birdnumbers2025

'Continental-wide prioritation of protected areas to approach global conservation goals for biodiversity conservation'. A talk by @yanjiexu.bsky.social @hkilabornithology.bsky.social in #birdnumbers2025.

@nathist.bsky.social @helsinki.fi

Seabird seansitivity maps as useful tools for serving spatial marine conservation planning. A talk by Volker Dierschke in #birdnumbers2025.

Spatial conservation planning to marine areas in the North Atlantic using tracking data of seabirds. A talk by Diego Pavon Jordan in #birdnumbers2025.

'Using modelled distribution maps to create senditivity maps for wind turbines and recreational zonations'. A talk by Henk Sierdsema @sovonvogels.bsky.social in #birdnumbers2025.

How to use monitoring data in an action plan to improve population status of a declining species, #TurtleDove? A talk by Carlos Carboneras on influence of a 4 year hunting ban in #birdnumbers2025.

An image of conference attendees.

Several members of the @btobirds.bsky.social Surveys Team, including James Heywood, the BBS National Organiser, have attended the European Bird Census Council (EBCC) ‘Bird Numbers 2025’ Conference this week. More details about EBCC here: www.ebcc.info #EBCC #BirdNumbers2025 #Ornithology

Top to bottom, left to right - Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem, Red-necked Grebe, Northern Bullfinch, Hen Harrier, park sign, Liverwort (Hepatica nobilis), Great Grey Shrike, Nuthatch of the pale europaea race, Black Woodpecker

Some photos from yesterday’s #BirdNumbers2025 conference excursion around Kemeri National Park, Latvia. Fantastic wildlife at every turn, although my bogey bird, White-backed Woodpecker, mocked me from every park sign 😂

Wonderful #BirdNumbers2025 excursion day to Kemeri National Park. Beautiful landscapes, perfect weather, brilliant birds and just the best company. Early Black Stork, woodpeckers, Cranes, White-tailed Eagles and more!

Excursion day at #birdnumbers2025 conference. Visiting local wetlands with nice number of waterbirds. Flood plains were relatively dry due to lack of rain and snow. #climatechange
#PendulineTit and #PinkFootedGoose spotted.

@nathist.bsky.social @helsinki.fi

Female Common Kingfisher, Riga

North American Muskrat, Riga

Some wildlife from outside the #BirdNumbers2025 conference in Riga - Kingfisher and (non-native) Muskrat

Verena Keller, Ainurs Aunins and me (middle) posing with parting gifts from the EBCC board

The European Bird Census Council’s three departing board members with paintings of species close to their hearts - Verena Keller (Ring Ouzel), Ainurs Aunins (Black Stork) and me (Purple Sandpiper 😍). Thanks to my friends on the board for this beautiful gift #BirdNumbers2025

Use of Merlin app affects reporting rates in eBird checklists of certain species. A talk of Wesley Hochachka in #birdnumbers2025.
@birdsoftheworld.bsky.social

Acoustic monitoring in #birdnumbers2025: Tomas Roslin @helsinki.fi Global soundscapes.

Acoustic monitoring in #birdnumbers2025: Patrik Lauha @helsinki.fi Automatic bird sound classification powered by neural networks.

Acoustics monitoring session in #birdnumbers2025. James Heywood from @btobirds.bsky.social: The potential of acoustics to inform and expand
common bird monitoring. Comparison between BBS surveys and acoustics monitoring.

Acoustics monitoring session in #birdnumbers2025.
Matteo Anderle: Integrating point counts and passive acoustics in
biodiversity assessments - examples of habitat selections.

Happy to see my colleagues presenting their works at #BirdNumbers2025 #EBCC Congress in Riga! Better knowledge can guide better policies, keep going for it!🤟 @francescaroseo @emanuelagranata

Members of the WeBS & GSMP team have been at the European Bird Council Census #BirdNumbers2025 in Riga this week!