Stichting Calidris - Longterm biometric data of ringed shorebirds

Stichting Calidris is a volunteer organization that originated from wader bird research conducted by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Since 1968, research on waders in the Wadden Sea has been conducted on Schiermonnikoog, initially by the Vrije Universiteit, and since 1997, the monitoring research has continued under Stichting Calidris. Every year in autumn, waders are captured, ringed, and measured. These data provide important insights into long-term changes in the distribution and timing of various wader populations. Additionally, long-term data on the biometry of waders can offer unique insights into their physical condition and, indirectly, the quality of their habitat in the Wadden Sea over an extended period. Not all of these details have been digitized immediately after capture, making them inaccessible to the scientific community. In this project, we aim to digitize a long-term dataset of waders that has been collected since 1968. The collected data include, in addition to standard biometric measurements, detailed information on molting conditions. In the first phase of the project, all data from 1990 to 2023 will be digitized. In the second phase, all data from 1968 to 1990 will be digitized and published on GBIF. The first phase was completed in 2024, and the second phase will be published in 2025.

Dutch Wadden Sea

NLBIF