The hidden cost of disturbance: Eurasian Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) avoid a disturbed roost site during the tourist season

Disturbance may impact individual birds and ultimately bird populations. If animals avoid disturbed sites this may prevent them from being disturbed directly but may also negatively impact their movement patterns and energy budgets. Avoidance is, however, challenging to study, because it requires following individuals over large spatial scales in order to compare their movement rates between sites in relation to spatiotemporal variation in disturbance intensity. We studied how 48 GPS-tracked non-breeding Eurasian Oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus used two neighbouring roost sites in the Wadden Sea.