British Ornithologists’ Union – Early Professional Award 2024

The inaugural recipient of the British Ornithologists' Union Early Professional Award is Dr Wouter Vansteelant. This award recognizes ‘an outstanding initial contribution to the field of ornithology’ in research, community activities, capacity building and mentorship, and/or science communication and engagement. Remarkably, Wouter has made outstanding contributions in all of these areas.

As an academic scientist, Wouter has been at the forefront of tracking individuals on their migratory journeys and revealing how they cope with the conditions they experience, how social learning informs individual migratory behaviours and how this shapes population-scale migratory patterns. Much of this work has focused on his beloved raptors, including the European Honey Buzzards, which were the subject of his PhD at the University of Amsterdam, awarded in 2016. By integrating individual migratory tracks with atmospheric models and remote-sensing information, Wouter showed that Honey Buzzards avoid particularly costly routes when travelling between Europe and Africa, but that this can occasionally mean that they encounter harsh weather in spring, delaying them sufficiently that they miss out on breeding in some years. Wouter has explored similar issues in Marsh Harriers, through international collaborative teams tracking birds across Europe, in Lesser Spotted Eagles, where tracking of translocated juveniles highlighted the importance of social learning for juvenile survival, and in Eleonora's Falcons, revealing how winds shape their extraordinary trans-African journeys.

In addition to his excellent academic research, Wouter is co-founder and research coordinator of the nature conservation non-governmental organization Batumi Raptor Count (https://www.batumiraptorcount.org/), a truly exceptional citizen science and community engagement project monitoring raptor migration through the Batumi area of Georgia since 2008. Many hundreds of people have taken part in the standardized surveys of autumn migration through the Batumi region that Wouter and his colleagues developed. The resulting data have led to a series of important publications and the team have worked hard to ensure that these highly valuable data are digitized and available as open access. One of the exceptional features of the Batumi project is the strength of the community links that have been developed, and the insights and engagement opportunities that have followed. Wouter's role in developing and maintaining this extremely effective non-governmental organization at such an early career stage is highly inspiring.

Wouter has always been a passionate and committed conservationist and his most recent work in the wetlands of Doñana, in southern Spain, has focused on Black-tailed Godwits and Eurasian Spoonbills, tracking their movements around the wetlands and their subsequent journeys back to their breeding grounds. Wouter arrived in Doñana at a time when the impacts of illegal water abstraction on this critically important wetland were becoming clear, and he has worked tirelessly to understand the impact of this rapid wetland loss on the waterbirds that depend on Doñana, and to publicize the issue as widely as possible.

Wouter has also given a great deal of time and effort to the ornithological community, serving as Associate Editor for Ibis and Ardea, and as co-chair of the scientific committee for the highly successful BOU Global Flyways conference. Wouter has also undertaken committee roles for the Dutch–Georgian Ornithological Foundation (NL) and the Migrant Landbird Study Group, and provided supervision and encouragement for many students and early career researchers.

Effective science communication takes a great deal of effort and time, and Wouter's brilliantly clear and engaging writing and presentations demonstrate the rewards that these efforts can bring. Through academic and public lectures, thoughtful blogs and online communications, and radio and podcast presentations, Wouter always makes the world of birds accessible and joyful for everyone.

Migratory birds are endlessly fascinating and inspiring, but they are also challenging to protect. Wouter's approach to understanding migration, enthusing and encouraging others to get involved, and communicating his understanding so effectively is a shining example of how hard work, passion and commitment can make a real difference. There could not be a more deserving first recipient of the BOU Early Professional Award.