Many species of migratory birds are adapting to ongoing environmental change by altering their migratory strategy: birds are arriving earlier at the breeding sites, leaving later, migrating shorter distances and some individuals have stopped migrating.

Black storks (Ciconia nigra) are long distance migratory birds but have recently established a growing resident population in Iberia. The reasons for this change in migratory behaviour are mostly unknown, but milder winter temperatures and abundance of foraging resources, due to the introduction of the red swamp crawfish (Procambarus clarkii) in Iberia, may be behind this change in migratory strategy. Current tracking technology allows researchers to follow individuals throughout several years, which provides a tremendous opportunity to study plasticity in migratory decisions over several years. With the widespread availability of remote-sensed environmental data sets, it is now possible to relate individual movement patterns to environmental conditions, opening doors to the understanding of determinants of residency and migratory behaviour on partial migratory species.

With this project, our main goal is to increase the knowledge of black storks in Iberia, where there is virtually no information on this species’ movements or adaptations to environmental change. We aim to understand the migratory behaviour of juvenile black storks and provide insights on the determinants of residency and migratory behaviour of this partial migratory species.