Saker Falcon on Thin Ice: Uneven Recovery Across Europe
A Saker Falcon on snow – a fitting emblem for a species whose recovery remains on thin ice. © Atila Szilágyi

Saker Falcon on Thin Ice: Uneven Recovery Across Europe

Hungary’s Saker Falcons have recovered spectacularly from the brink of extinction. But across Europe, their story remains uneven – a mix of triumph, fragility, and unfinished work.


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How European Is the European Roller?
European Roller in Hungary — a bird still closely associated with Europe by name, even as much of its population and range now lie far beyond the continent’s western edge. © Attila Szilágyi

How European Is the European Roller?

Conceptual Note: This piece sits deliberately between observation and explanation: it outlines what is currently supported by evidence, then turns to the not knowing that remains — treating uncertainty not as a failure of understanding, but as a necessary part of how knowledge advances. The European Roller carries one of the most self-assured names in ornithology. It sounds precise, settled, geographically honest. Yet the bird it describes has always been only partly Eu


Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly

Is Woodpecker Drumming More Than Noise?
Syrian Woodpecker – Drumming is one of the most conspicuous signals in a woodpecker’s behavioural repertoire, yet its evolutionary role is often taken for granted — recognised immediately, but rarely interrogated in the way birdsong has been. © Pavel Štěpánek

Is Woodpecker Drumming More Than Noise?

Conceptual Note: This piece sits deliberately between observation and explanation: it outlines what is currently supported by evidence, then turns to the not knowing that remains — treating uncertainty not as a failure of understanding, but as a necessary part of how knowledge advances. The forgotten song Among birds, few behaviours are as immediately recognisable as the drumming of a woodpecker. Long before the bird itself is seen, the rapid, percussive burst carries


Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly

Sound-based surveys uncover fine-scale habitat selection in the declining Crested Tit
Forest birds are often assumed to depend primarily on age and maturity, yet fine-scale structure and composition may shape habitat use long before breeding begins. © Steve Roach

Sound-based surveys uncover fine-scale habitat selection in the declining Crested Tit

New research from Finland suggests that Crested Tits respond more to fine-scale forest structure than to forest age in early spring, challenging assumptions about how habitat quality is defined in managed boreal forests.


Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly