I am a Team Piersma researcher that tries to understand what the source is of the variation in the migration of Black-tailed Godwits. I work at the University of Groningen, Conservation Ecology Group, as PhD student.

We do our fieldwork in Fryslân with a large team, which is a lot of fun! However, most importantly it involves breeding waders, they are fantastic! When we go out in the morning the Godwits, Lapwing and Snipe are displaying! It is great to be a part of their intimate world and to think about their motives!

After our field season we get to follow “our” birds from behind our computers at the University of Groningen. It is great to see the variation in strategies and to try and understand why individual godwits migrate the way they do!

p.s.  my right knee is always dirty, see pictures.