Home»Articles»General Information»Why is Digitizing the Claims Process Integral for InsurTech's Success?
InsureTech involves using high-end technology for the processes related to the Insurance Industry. One of the processes where InsureTech can be used extensively in the Motor Insurance Industry is the claims process. If this process is streamlined with the help of InsurTech, it can be enhanced and InsurTech stands a chance to survive in this sector.
The policyholder raises a claim, after an unfortunate incident. This claim is raised by intimating the company via various communication touchpoints like calling a toll-free number, sending an email, the website or mobile applications, etc.
The insurance company registers a claim after reviewing the policy document issued to the customer. The claim is registered only if the claimant has already bought the corresponding coverage for their vehicle.
Investigation of a claim is branched out into various steps. It involves collecting evidence and proof in the form of photographs, video footage, eye-witnesses, etc., that the supposed incident occurred, verifying documents submitted by the claimant, reviewing the First Information Report (FIR), etc. The investigation also involves verifying whether the insurer is liable to honor the claim or not.
After a thorough investigation is complete, the next step is to evaluate the amount of damage and/or injuries sustained by the involved parties. The evaluated amount will be settled with the policyholder as per the coverage and after subtracting deductibles.
Claim settlement can be of two types – Cashless or Reimbursement. The claim will be settled depending upon the type chosen by the claimant.
Several standalone applications can be used in order to gather claims raised by the policyholders. The software within this application can sort the claim into specific categories.
This step can be intertwined with registration. Along with sorting claims into specific categories, the mobile application could have the capability to check the scope of a policy as well. If the claim is in sync with the coverage it can be registered automatically.
With the help of advanced technology which involves Artificial Intelligence, a set of high-end scanners and cameras could gauge the amount of damage suffered by a vehicle.
The reporting system inbuilt into the hardware could be capable of updating the claims team in real time. This could be an efficient as well as an accurate way of estimating the damage, instead of a person manually inspecting it.
Why Is It Important to Digitize the Claims Process?
InsureTech is leading the insurance industry to new, untouched horizons. And the insurance claim process is one of the most important aspects of a motor insurance company. Introducing digitization in the claims process will embed precision and agility.
InsurTech is still not widely accepted in the insurance industry as of now. Companies which have survived in this field for a long time, shy away from the use of extensive technology. In such a situation, it is crucial to streamline processes like claims and weave digitization into it, which could lead to the success of InsurTech.


Download Insight IAS Prelims Test Series 2019 PDF. Insight IAS Prelims Test Series imparts 360-degree IAS preparation solutions with their exhaustive Prelims Test Series.
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On 9 and 10 January, UNICARE was part of the kick-off meeting for the European project 'Advancing Personal and Household Services' (Grant Agreement no VS/2018/0344).
Other project partners include EASPD (The European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities), Social Services Europe, DIESIS (European Research and Development Service for the Social Economy), EFSI – the key representative body for national federations and companies involved in the development of personal and household services in Europe and EFFE, the EU Federation for Family Employment, and our sister union federation EFFAT, the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions.
The project partners aim to bring together existing research on Personal Household Services (PHS), organise 21 national conferences on personal and household services, establish tailored guides and ultimately develop a platform involving multiple stakeholders such as unions, employers, ministries, and civil society organisations.
UNICARE is committed to organising national conferences alongside other stakeholders in Ireland, Hungary and Poland, and will oversee the writing of tailored guides on developing Social Dialogue, Professional Profiles, and Service Voucher Schemes.


Rhona Mitchell and Sarah Jane Macinnes are award winning Makeup Artists based in Glasgow. We met working for cosmetics brand Bobbi Brown, where we discovered that we shared the same passion and philosophy about makeup, as well as the same sense of humour and love of gin!
We each have over 10 years of experience in the makeup industry covering a wide range of disciplines including fashion, film, tv, theatre, special effects, advertising and bridal, and we have worked all over the UK on various events including the Scottish Fashion Awards, Miss Scotland, the MOBO Awards and London Fashion Week.
Rhona and Sarah Jane have turned their expertise and passion for makeup into Mitchell and Macinnes Makeup, devoted to providing premium makeup services to all clientele in Glasgow, Scotland and beyond. Every face is different, and our approach at Mitchell and Macinnes Makeup is to enhance your features and make you feel beautiful and confident. Our aim when creating the studio was to provide a modern and relaxed space for anyone to come and enjoy our tailor made services.


Intertech Incorporated is an engineering firm that designs, modifies, builds and maintains industrial automation systems. In addition, Intertech provides maintenance and support services for automation systems installed in industrial, mining, manufacturing, wood and food processing facilities as well as municipal water and waste water utilities. Each industry or utility uses unique combinations and applications of programmable logic controllers (PLCs), programmable automation controllers (PACs) and operator interfaces.
Intertech uses the knowledge, experience and insights gained through our engineering services, to provide additional relevance and applicability, to the material and knowledge, shared during our technical education courses.
Intertech offers a variety of engineering services for your facility, an annual technical support agreement with pre-paid phone support, individual call support, remote access and onsite technical assistance. We offer support that allows customers to focus on their core businesses.
It's more than just PLC training.
Intertech provides basic, intermediate, and advanced education courses for Allen-Bradley, Eaton, and Modicon PLCs (programmable logic controllers) to technicians, engineers, supervisors, and distributors in automated industries throughout North America. Our success comes from decades of experience in the industrial automation field, as well as the feedback received from companies committed to the highest quality services available.
Skilled help at every turn.
Intertech can help you and your company reduce downtime, increase productivity and efficiency, improve quality, ensure a safe work environment, and manage energy use.
Our engineers have the insight, intellect, and competence that comes with 20+ years of work in automation systems. That sets us apart and, ultimately, makes us better than the others.
Intertech's product support service includes objective assistance and solutions. Not just at the start of your project, but throughout application development and testing. Our assistance includes maintaining technical relationships with your engineering groups, enabling software tools, and communicating new technical requirements. It's powerful support from top people who are experts in industrial automation.


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Your online guide to Britain's unique and distinctive towns.
Folly/tower
Mill (wind and water)
Cathedral/churches
Beaches/coast
Blue Flag Beach
Film/TV Locations
Heritage Open Days
Model village
Port/Harbour
River trips
Spa Towns
Town Criers
Georgian, Harbour, Museum, News, Places, South West England, University
Bristol a thriving metropolis and gateway to the oceans
Bristol Harbour © Steelfish on Pixabay
Bristol has always been linked to the sea. It has been a large and important city for over eight centuries. Near the rivers Frome and Avon, it has been inhabited since the Stone Age. And, there is evidence of a number of Roman settlements here. The town really started to flourish during the Middle Ages when it was a busy commercial port.
Bristol Castle © Elektro-Plan on Pixabay
By the C11thit was a centre for the wool trade, and by 1373 had a charter and county status. Cloth was an important industry for the city and its port became popular with explorers going to the new world. It was from here, in 1497, that John Cabot sailed on his famous voyage of to North America onboard the Matthew. Visitors can see a re-creation of the voyage on in the Harbourside area today.
Bristol became a city in 1542 and its thriving port grew with trade in wine, olive oil, iron and dried fruits. The cloth trade started to diminish by the C18th. Bristol's economy and merchants however, prospered from the slave trade, up until its abolition in 1807. Tobacco became a major industry for the city in the C19th, led by the Wills family. The arrival of the railway, along with Brunel, helped to attract investment into the area.
Royal Road Bristol © stux on Pixabay
Bristol today
Today, Bristol is a thriving metropolis with a wide range of attractions and shops. The Harbourside area, is home to the Tourist Information Centre. The former dockland area of the city now has restaurants and bars. The district is a pleasant place to explore on foot, but another good option is to take one of the ferry services on offer.
A recent addition in the Harbourside, the M Shed, is a restored 1950s transit shed. At a cost of £27 million, it replaces the Bristol Industrial Museum and focuses on the city's social history. On the ground floor, visitors will find the Bristol Places gallery, with a mix of photographs, paintings, vehicles and a large aerial view of the city. The first floor galleries give an insight into the vibrant social life of the city and those who helped to build it.
The SS Great Britain
Brunel's wonderful SS Great Britain lays in the harbour. Launched in Bristol in 1843, the Great Britain was one of the world's first great ocean liners. Visitors can experience the sights, sounds and smells of life on board for Victorian passengers and crew. They can learn about the ship's history in the Dockyard Museum and descend under the glass sea to stand below its great hull. The Brunel Institute, alongside the ship, features the SS Great Britain Trust's collections and the National Brunel Archive. The ship is fully accessible and guided group tours can be booked to explore its history.
rigging SS Great Britain © Aitoff on Pixabay
Also in the Harbourside area is At-Bristol, one of the UK's biggest interactive science centres. Its large exhibition spaces house over 300 interactive exhibits. At-Bristol also features a 90-seater planetarium, housed in a spectacular chrome sphere.
Bristol © Stux on Pixabay
Close by is the Watershed media centre, which delivers a diverse cultural programme of films, events, festivals and art. The Architecture Centre offers an intimate and welcoming gallery. The area is also home to Canon's Marsh Amphitheatre.
The merchant's quarter
Nearby Queens Square is an elegant green space with grand Georgian buildings, once home to the city's wealthy C18th merchants. At its centre is a statue of William III on horse back, created by the Flemish-born English sculptor John Michael Rysbrack. It dates from 1736, and demonstrates the city's loyalty to the crown. The nearby area is home to waterside bars and restaurants, and an array of historic buildings. The stunning Old Granary is a fine example of the Bristol Byzantine style with its coloured bricks and Moorish arches.
On Corn Street, visitors will find the city's old financial district lined with elegant buildings dating from the C18thand C19th. The area is now home to a range of bars, restaurants and cafes. However, there is evidence of its commercial past in the shape of four flat-topped bronze pillars, called nails. Dating from the C16thand C17th merchants used them for trading purposes. When merchants agreed a deal the nails were struck, giving rise to the saying to pay on the nail. The thriving St Nicholas Market stands next to the nails.
Shopping in Bristol
The Exchange Hall, dating from 1741, houses an eclectic mix of stalls, while nearby arcades host independent shops and food stalls. In addition, there is a monthly Slow Food Market that takes place here on the first Sunday of the month and a Farmers' Market every Wednesday morning.
In the city centre shopping area the pedestrian streets offer nearly 500 stores and two separate covered shopping centres. There are more than 50 cafes and restaurants, as well as a number of relaxing open spaces. Opened in 2008, Cabot Circus is the latest retail addition to the area with over 120 stores.
Opposite the Council House lies C12th Bristol Cathedral, Of the original Abbey buildings, only the Chapter House and Abbey Gatehouse remain as part of the cathedral. Subsequent re-designs, including a major rebuilding programme in the Victorian era, have created one of the finest examples of a hall church in the country and visitors can explore its history by arranging a cathedral tour.
At the bottom of Broad Street is the Church of St John the Baptist, which dates from the C14th and sits around the last remaining part of the city wall, St John's Gate.
St Mary's Bristol © 54776875 on Pixabay
On the north-east side of the green lies St Mark's Church, also known as the Mayor's Chapel. Maurice de Gaunt built it as an almonry by in the C13th, but at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1541 Bristol Corporation bought it. The chapel became the official place of worship for the city's Mayor in 1722 and today it is the only council-owned church in the country.
Frank Matcham designed The Bristol Hippodrome on St Augustine's Parade in 1912. A unique feature within the theatre is a dome in the roof, which opens to reveal the sky above. The Hippodrome offers a varied live programme.
In King Street the Old Vic theatre, designed by James Saunderson, dates from 1766. It was the first in Britain to have the 'horseshoe' shaped auditorium.
If you have enjoyed a visit to Bristol, please tell us about it.
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Next PostAmesbury is a bustling town, surrounded by an ancient landscape including Stonehenge, a World Heritage Site, which attracts over a million visitors a year.
Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire: a thriving pocket of culture
Stockport, home of silk, hats and heritage!
Worsley, Greater Manchester was one of the first industrialised towns
Cottoning on to the Industrial Revolution – Cotton in Britain
Luciana Haill on It's Time to Explore Clock Towers
Tom Daldry on Step back in time to the C13th at the Battle of Evesham between Prince Edward and Simon de Montfort
Avril O'Connor on Step back in time to the C13th at the Battle of Evesham between Prince Edward and Simon de Montfort
Victor Balsdon on Mere in Wiltshire a historical and archaeological hidden gem
Hillary Randall on Bexhill in Sussex, home of the iconic De La Warr Pavilion
West Midlands England
About Discover Britain's Towns
As a travel and tourism publisher, we've been writing about lots of the best of Britain's towns, and the individual neighbourhoods within bigger cities and communities (including London) for quite a few years. So we decided to share what we know, and to start this site for others to contribute later knowledge and suggestions too!
Copyright © 2016 Discover Britain's Towns

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35 Killed in Bomb Attack on Afghan Police Bus
A bomb attack on an Afghan police bus killed at least 35 people in Kabul Sunday.
Taleban militants say they are responsible for the bombing.
Afghan officials say the police academy bus was carrying police instructors when it exploded near a police station in a crowded section of the city. Most of the dead were Afghan policemen.
Police and hospital officials say the blast injured at least 30 others.
The attack is one of the deadliest in Kabul since the Taleban was toppled in 2001.
Also on Sunday, officials for the US-led coalition force say a roadside bomb attack killed three coalition members and their Afghan interpreter in the southern province of Kandahar.
The nationalities of the soldiers were not released.
In other violence, Afghan officials say at least five police and 11 Taleban militants were killed overnight in two separate clashes in Herat and Paktia provinces.
Information for this story is provided by AP and AFP.
News in Burmese (Realplayer) - Download 135 K


I have one web server which will be connecting to two database servers set up with 256 databases in a master/slave configuration. I have installed wordpress, set up my network, placed the multi-db files in their proper location and the configuration seems to be lost on me, which is embarrassing due to the fact that I am a web developer and intermediate server admin.
1. Do I simply duplicate the add_db_server calls for the slave server with different host information and the write flag set to 0?
2. Can I get a clear definition of the HOST and LAN_HOST arguments in the add_db_server function? The values in the sample config seem reversed to my understanding (host being external IP and lan_host being internal IP).
Do I simply duplicate the add_db_server calls for the slave server with different host information and the write flag set to 0?
Yes - if you want to prioritise reads from the slave then set the read value for those to 1, and those for the dbs on the master to a higher number e.g. 2 or 5 - doesn't matter with a single master / slave, but that number will be more important when you add more slaves.
Can I get a clear definition of the HOST and LAN_HOST arguments in the add_db_server function? The values in the sample config seem reversed to my understanding (host being external IP and lan_host being internal IP).
If both server are in the same datacentre then you can ignore them and put the same IP / address in both.
A thousand thanks, Barry :slight_smile: I'll give it a shot.


Tavern 1883 is the perfect marriage of Canadian comfort food served in a contemporary fashion. Here you will find all the comfort classics with a Tavern twist.
Snuggle up at Grizzly Paw for a casual and cozy experience. With three fireplaces, an all wood interior and patios to boot, Grizzly's is a great place for any occasion.
Taste a piece of Canmore history with the Iron Goat. Named for the original train bustling through Canmore, this restaurant is truly authentic. Their menu offers unique fare you won't find anywhere else.
Long live the queen. This English style pub brings Canmore the very best in Brit hospitality. Rose and Crown owner and chef, Rob Anderson loves Canmore and it shows. He serves up tasty fare that will please the entire lot of you.
No, not the Canadian rapper, but the killer pub with endless drafts and the pub food you crave. Whimsically dubbed 'The Cheers' of Canmore, The Drake offers a comfortable pub, where everyone may not know your name, but they will treat you like family.
A true Canmore experience is waiting for you at the Wood. With the best of Alberta from beef steaks, homemade burgers, and ribs, the Wood packs a punch with their classic pub food. This is the perfect spot to catch a game or catch up with friends.


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Global Flyway Ecology – Team Piersma
East Atlantic Flyway – inland waders
East Atlantic Flyway – coastal waders
East Asian – Australasian Flyway
West Asia – East African Flyway
The American Flyways
Eurasian Spoonbills
Research bridging flyways
Global Flyway Network
ANBI status (Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling)
Blogs bridging flyways
GFN Bohai Team Updates
Coastal China Field Updates
Science and Art
Waders of the Bijagos – Securing the ecological integrity of the Bijagos archipelago as a key site for waders along the East Atlantic Flyway
Posted on January 28, 2019 February 4, 2019 by Team Piersma
The Bijagos Archipelago in Guinea Bissau is the focus of attention of a large scale ecological research project (2018-2022). The project is funded by the MAVA foundation and is a collaboration between Guinean, Portuguese and Dutch research institutions:
Guinea-Bissau: Palmeirinha, Tiniguena and ODZH – Organização para a Defesa e o Desenvolvimento das Zonas Humidas
Portugal : Universidade de Aveiro, Departamento de Biologia-CESAM and Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências-CESAM
The Netherlands: University of Groningen and NIOZ – Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
This blog keeps a photo story of the project, made by Theunis Piersma – starting January 2019.
The first week of field work in 2019, at Urok. The NIOZ/RUG team with El-Hacen teaching the next generation of biologists and, and Jannes Heusinkveld, specialist of field data collection with drones, testing equipment.
The progress workshop of the steering committee of the Mava Foundation project 'Waders of Bijagos', was held on 27-28 January 2019, in Casa do Ambiente/IBAP in Bubaque, Bijagos, Guinea-Bissau.
Here an impression of the workshop, with on the right: Mohammed Henriques, joint PhD student of Universidade de Lisboa (Tidal Wings) and the University of Groningen, with Aissa Regalla de Barros (Instituto da Biodiversidade e das Áreas Protegidas – IBAP) and Toze.
Mohammed Henriques, joint PhD student of Universidade de Lisboa (Tidal Wings) and the University of Groningen, with Aissa Regalla de Barros (ODZH) and Toze
Aissa Regalla de Barros (IBAP) introducing the project t-shirt, with Bar-tailed Godwit with NIOZ colour-rings!
José Alves, and Ana Coelho, joint PhD student of Universidade de Aveiro and the University of Groningen summarizing the work of Universidade de Aveiro.
Afonso Rocha, from Universidade de Aveiro, presenting lots of resightings, esp. of Bar-tailed Godwits, that were colour-ringed in N Europe, including The Netherlands!
Teresa Catry of Universidade de Lisboa, one of the researchers behind Tidal Wings.
El-Hacen Mohamed El-Hacen presenting SIBES Bijagos for the second phase of the MAVA Project. The design of de SIBES Bijagos grid is based on the SIBES Wadden Sea project.
Guido Leurs, the shark specialist in the project.
Laura Govers, University of Groningen, summing up the conservation relevance of the project.
The team is taking off for a night of catching:
Here we were dropped off from motocar. Legwork from here on:
Reaching the camp at the edge of the mangrove, and then some mangrove work, to reach the area where we want to set the nets:
Net setting in the mangrove (with Anna Coelho in the middle). Afonso Rocha setting up the decoys. From here it's waiting for darkness and for a catch:
Processing the catch (!) in the middle of the night:
Datatagging a Grey Plover by Teresa Catry and Jorge Gutiérrez
And the aftermath, with Afonso Rocha:
Spectacular sighting!
An important part of the work is collecting data of birds with colour-rings, either ringed during this expedition or elsewhere in the Flyway.
The first weekend of February 2019 Jorge Gutiérrez resighted a male Red Knot with a yellow flag and four colour rings. After some text messaging back-and-forth with Job ten Horn and Jan van Gils from the Royal NIOZ , it turned out that he was captured and ringed at its breeding ground in Taymir, Russia, last summer on 17 July 2018. At that time he was guiding his chicks over the tundra. Obviously when Jorge saw him he had a breeding plumage score of 1 (and not 5 as in this photo).
This guy connects Russia with Guinea Bissau! Or more precisely the Bijagos Archipelago with Taymir. Here he is in full in breeding plumage in Taymir. Photo: Jan van Gils and his NIOZ team.
Colofon:
Project title: Waders of the Bijagos – Securing the ecological integrity of the Bijagos archipelago as a key site for waders along the East Atlantic Flyway
Students: Mohammed Faza Henriques Baldé, Ana Coelho, Guido Leurs
Postdocs: El-Hacen Mohamed El-Hacen, Julia Karagicheva, Jorge Gutiérrez, Afonso Rocha
Team leaders: José Alves, Teresa Catry, Laura Govers, José Pedro Granadeiro, Han Olff, Theunis Piersma, Aissa Regalla de Barros (Instituto da Biodiversidade e das Áreas Protegidas – IBAP)
Posted in East Atlantic Flyway - coastal wadersLeave a comment
New paper in Nature Communications: Fuelling conditions at staging sites can mitigate Arctic warming effects in a migratory bird
Posted on October 16, 2018 October 17, 2018 by Team Piersma
Exciting news! This week (15 October) we published a paper on our decades-long Bar-tailed Godwit research in the East Atlantic Flyway – these are the godwits migrating from West Africa to the Siberian Arctic.
During the last decades Bar-tailed Godwits experienced changes in the tundra phenology. We detected a chain of effects suggesting that conditions in the temperate zone (that is, the Wadden Sea) determine the ability of Bar-tailed Godwits to cope with the climate-related changes in the Arctic.
The paper in Nature Communications can be accessed here. This paper is the product of the collaboration between Russian, USA and Dutch scientists, the migration watchers of trektellen.nl, and two Dutch groups of volunteer bird catchers – VRS Castricum and the Frisian Wilsterflappers. The paper is based on multiple long-term research programs, of which the benthic survey work by the Royal NIOZ in the Wadden Sea needs special mention.
Theunis Piersma was invited to write a blog accompanying the paper on the website of Nature Research Ecology & Evolution.
In this blog called, The natural history of our changing planet, Theunis describes the background of this long-term study, and he looks forward: "I hope that our paper helps establish political will to continue such observations. We should realize that, despite its key value, we cannot just rely on the thousands of hours of unpaid labour by keen amateur bird scientists."
A Bar-tailed Godwit in the Wadden Sea looking for food. Photo: Jan van de Kam
For publicity about our paper check here.
An update on the progress of the exceptionally snow-rich breeding season in northeast Greenland
Posted on July 23, 2018 July 23, 2018 by Team Piersma
On 20 July 2018, Jeroen Reneerkens reported:
I recently wrote about the excessive amount of snow in northeast Greenland and how shorebirds are struggling to reproduce, and some risk-takers to survive, this year. My blog received a lot of attention: it was also posted on the popular birding webpage Birdguides, Scientific American wrote an article about it and I was invited to the studio of 'Vroege Vogels' for a live interview on Dutch national radio.
Now that it is mid-July, which is when usually the majority of Sanderling and other shorebirds in northeast Greenland hatch, I thought that it would be appropriate to write an update of the situation, as well as answer some questions I was asked.
Was this a record late snow melt? How unusual is the situation?
The time of onset and the progress of the snow melt was not abnormal. It was the amount of snow that had fallen in late spring (April and May), when temperatures along the northeast coast of Greenland are still below 0 °C, which was unusually large. Such a large amount of snow just takes a very long time to melt, even though the temperatures in June were normal (on average ca. 5 °C) and it was sunny. Since the establishment in 1996 of the research station Zackenberg, in northeast Greenland (74°28'N 20°34'W), such amounts of snow have never been documented before.
Large annual variation in snow cover in the Zackenberg valley. Photos taken from the same position on 10 June in 2010, 2013 and 2018 (source: Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring)
What is the current situation?
My colleagues from Aarhus university, who are still in Zackenberg, reported that the amount of snow in early July was still excessive (80% of surface snow covered on 10 July). Also, a third dead, apparently starved, Sanderling was found. A few more Sanderlings that were ringed in Zackenberg in previous years showed up, but the number of observed individuals observed is still much lower compared with previous years.
Also, these birds do not seem to prepare for breeding, but forage in small flocks apparently to get into condition to prepare for migrating southwards. On 8 July, Jannik Hansen reported: "There are hardly any Red Knots left in the area. Also many Sanderlings have left, and flocks of 10-20 Dunlins are flying around now." Jannik estimated that only ca. 15% of the area usually used by Sanderlings to incubate is free of snow (in average years, many clutches would hatch around this date), and possibly 2-3 % of the area used by Dunlins.
Extensive snowpack in Zackenberg, northeast Greenland in summer 2018. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
Still, Jannik found a Sanderling female incubating a clutch of four eggs on a snow-free patch of ca. 7 by 15 meters. By briefly floating the eggs in water, he could estimate that it was incubated for approximately 3 days, which would indicate a hatch date of 28 July. Only 5% of 707 Sanderling families that I monitored between 2003 -2017 hatched on 28 July or later, so this is very late. In most cases in earlier years such late clutches will represent replacement clutches of pairs whose first clutch fell victim to egg predators. It remains to be seen whether the single clutch found in Zackenberg survives until hatch. We have shown before that early in the summer, when the area of tundra covered by snow is still large , clutches run a larger risk to get eaten by egg predators, probably because the snow-free area in which predators search for prey is smaller.
Northeast Greenland is very large and remote, so there is not a lot of local information. Luckily, we also collaborate with Johannes Lang and Benoît Sittler and their team who work at Karup Elv, on Traill island (72°29'N 23°59'W) ca. 240 km south of Zackenberg. As in Zackenberg, the tundra surface was ca. 95 per cent covered in snow, in late June on Traill island, but on 12 July it was estimated to be only 50 per cent. So snow in the southern part of the NE Greenland national park seems have melted faster than farther northwards.
Johannes initially also reported that the tundra was very silent with very few birds around, but on 12 July they had already found three Sanderling clutches, which are predicted to hatch around 26 July. Johannes reports that he suspects that the clutches were laid in an area that was still snow covered at the end of June. Three Sanderling nests are very few compared to other years when more than 10 nests would have been found by this date at Traill island. Johannes and Benoît still observe Sanderling pairs which they expect to give up reproduction soon. The researchers did not find more than these three Sanderling clutches this year. Their discoveries however indicate that some Sanderling pairs managed to produce a very late clutch despite the excessive snow and its slow melt.
A Sanderling on the tundra with less snow, Zackenberg 16 June 2017. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
Were conditions similar this year across the entire Arctic?
The Arctic tundra used by breeding shorebirds is very large and snowfall is often a regional weather phenomenon. The entire east coast of Greenland has experienced a lot of snowfall during late spring which took a long time to melt away. We do not know in detail what the conditions were in other parts of the Sanderling breeding range (Pearry land in north Greenland, Ellesmere island in Canada), which use the East Atlantic flyway.
The conditions on the tundra near Barrow, Alaska, where Global Flyway Network collaborator Bart Kempenaers and his team studies Red Phalaropes, Semipalmated sandpipers and Pectoral Sandpipers was also exceptionally late due to a large amount of snow. Much fewer shorebirds were around, but those that waited for the snow to melt eventually bred ca. 1 month later than average.
In the Russian Far East, from Sakhalin to Chukotka, the spring was also cold and late (Evgeny Syroechkovskiy, personal communication), and so was the spring in parts of the Canadian Arctic (Paul Smith in an interview with Scientific American).
In contrast to the situation in Greenland and Alaska, on the Taimyr peninsula in Siberian Russia Global Flyway Network researchers Jan van Gils, Thomas Lameris and Mikhail Zhemchuzhnikov experience a very warm summer with on some days temperatures as high as 22 °C! So snow has melted fast there and the first Red Knot chicks hatched on 8 July. More details in their blog.
Red Knot adult and chick. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
Will there be no reproductive success at all for shorebirds breeding in east Greenland?
Next to the already mentioned four Sanderling nests that were found (one in Zackenberg and three on Traill island), a clutch of a Common Ringed Plover was found in Zackenberg on the same snow free patch of tundra of 7 by 15 meter on which the single Sanderling nest was discovered. The Ringed Plover nest was however already discovered and eaten by an Arctic fox –as indicated by the foot prints in the snow next to the nest location- the day after discovery. Also one of the three Sanderling clutches on Traill island fell victim to an egg predator already. I expect that few shorebirds will manage to successfully hatch and fledge chicks this year in Northeast Greenland.
Few juvenile Red Knots should be expected to appear along NW European wetlands in 2018. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
Is a delayed breeding season a problem?
First of all, it should be noted that it seems that the majority of shorebirds did not even attempt to breed, but instead did not arrive in their usual breeding territories but probably stayed further southwards. The few birds that risked to fly to Zackenberg had difficulties to survive the period with lack of invertebrate food, as indicated by the three casualties and the (very) low body masses of birds we caught at the end of June. The few shorebirds that managed to lay a clutch, did so with a serious delay. Because the emergence of insects depends on the timing of snow melt, both birds and their prey are similarly delayed: so what is the problem with a delayed start of breeding for shorebirds?
I expect that the arthropods will appear late and very synchronously, causing a short but very high abundance of insects. In such cases, chicks will have a very short period only to profit from this burst of insect abundance. We have shown that in years with short-lasting peaks of arthropod abundance, Sanderling chick growth was relatively poor.
What is the effect on the shorebird populations?
I suspect low reproductive success of Greenland breeding shorebirds this year, and possibly also a lower survival. I would like to document this, but I can only do so with the help of many observers. You can count the number of adult and juvenile Sanderlings at your beaches until mid November. Please download the manual here, which is also available in French, German and Spanish.
That the extensive snow cover has impacts on the Greenlandic shorebirds can already be observed. Several observers have reported unusually large numbers of Red Knots and Sanderlings in early July, which suggests that indeed many shorebirds that would usually breed in east Greenland have returned early. Jim Wilson reported on 4 July: "Knots in summer plumage have been turning up in UK in the last week and that is too early – even for returning females." And Klaus Günther, working in the German Wadden Sea reported that "among some 5.000-6.000 Knots the % of adult birds was 25% two days ago [on 2 July] on Sylt! Normally you will see only 1-3 % adults in summer among the grey juveniles."
It is difficult to say whether (and how) a population will deal with a year with very low reproductive success. The future will tell. I hope that I may count on your continued support with useful observations of colour-ringed Sanderlings and from counts of adults and juveniles in late summer and early autumn.
Juvenile Sanderling. You can help monitor this year's reproductive success by counting adult and juvenile Sanderlings in flocks at your local beaches. How to do that? You can here download a manual in English, French, German or Spanish. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
Is this phenomenon the result of climate change and may we expect this to happen more often?
It is impossible to say whether the exceptional amount of snow this year is the result of a changing climate. However, warmer average global temperature will cause a higher rate of evaporation, more water vapour in the atmosphere will result in more precipitation in Arctic regions. If this precipitation in the Arctic falls in winter or late spring, it will often be in the form of snow. Climate models, predict that global precipitation will increase but that changes in precipitation will not be evenly distributed. Some locations will get more snow.
Information used in this blog was received from Martin Bulla, Jan van Gils, Klaus Günther, Jannik Hansen, Bart Kempenaers, Thomas Lameris, Johannes Lang, Benoît Sittler, Evgeny Syroechkovskiy and Jim Wilson
News from the faraway wild Arctic. On Red Knots and the Dutch-Russian expedition to the Taimyr Peninsula
A report from the 2018 Dutch-Russian expedition in Taimyr. The team members are Mikhail Soloviev, Anastasia Popovkina, Jan van Gils, Job ten Horn, Victor Golovnyuk, Thomas Lameris, Mikhail (Misha) Zhemchuzhnikov and Maria Sukhova:
"It is always a risky business to set up experiments in the field. And especially when the field site is located in northern Taimyr (76.1 N 98.5 E), in Russia, and when the experimental animals are nesting Red Knots.
On 29 May 2018, when Jan van Gils, Mikhail Soloviev and their team arrived in Khatanga, the last human-populated place on their way, there were still many uncertainties about their field season.
Would they be able to arrange a helicopter flight to get back from the field or will they have to hitch-hike an icebreaker and have a compulsory late-summer cruise through Franz-Joseph Land Archipelago? What will be conditions at the Taimyr field site? And, most important, will there be nesting Red Knots?
In the helicopter to the field site. Only part of the team is visible: team leaders Mikhail Soloviev (centre) and Jan van Gils (far left), Victor Golovnyuk (2nd left), Thomas Lameris (far right) and Maria Sukhova (2nd right). Not in the photo but surely in the heli: Anastasia Popovkina, Job ten Horn, Misha Zhemchuzhnikov.
Everything has worked out so far! The helicopter flight back is agreed upon. The weather has been good most of the time, sometimes even too good, since 22 °C is not what one should expect at this location.
And the Red Knots apparently do their best to make researchers happy. On 9 June they were singing around the field camp, and within a week the team had identified 14 nesting territories.
On 13 June, Job ten Horn found the first Red Knot nest with two eggs. The next one was found by Jan, on 18 June (even though he was nest-searching in a fog). By 24 June, eight nests had been found and 11 Red Knot males had received radio transmitters. On 1 July, the team was celebrating the deployment of the first satellite transmitter. By now, three female Red Knots are being tracked through the Argos satellite service.
We have no high quality field photos of 2018 yet due to limited internet connections, but to give an idea about what Red Knots on the tundra look like, here a male with his chick in Sterligova, Taimyr in 1994. Photo: Jan van de Kam.
Crane flies started to emerge in the first days of July, and there are plenty around. Right in time, as after several days of dog-weather with snowfall last Sunday the first Red Knot chicks hatched! The weather then has become good enough for some researchers to go for a dip in a lake. But it all changed very quick, and on Friday chicks from three clutches met this world for the first time in snow and frost.
Fingers crossed the things will roll on as luckily onwards. Hopefully the many Arctic Skuas nesting in the area and Arctic Foxes wandering around will find something else to eat."
Part of the Russian-Dutch NIOZ team: Misha Zhemchuzhnikov, Jan van Gils & Thomas Lameris are ready for the field season.
Posted in East Atlantic Flyway - coastal waders2 Comments
Excessive spring snowfall results in a non-breeding year for shorebirds in NE Greenland
Posted on July 3, 2018 July 3, 2018 by Team Piersma
Jeroen Reneerkens of the University of Groningen studies breeding Sanderlings, for the first time in 2003 and since 2007 annually. He works from the Danish Zackenberg Research Station (74°28'N 20°34'W) in NE Greenland that was established in 1996, and is the research base for various experts monitoring the biotic and abiotic environment of NE Greenland.
Jeroen reports about his remarkable 2018 field season:
I study how rising temperatures may affect the reproductive success of Sanderlings in Zackenberg, NE Greenland. Due to a disproportionate degree of climate warming in the Arctic, shorebirds that migrate to the Arctic to breed are strongly suspected to be negatively affected by ongoing climate change. Niels Martin Schmidt and his team have indeed established that the summer temperatures in Zackenberg have steadily increased during the last decades.
One of the Sanderlings that is part of the long-term study on Sanderling reproduction in Greenland. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
The expected consequence of the warming Arctic summers are a mismatch in timing between arthropods (think insects and spiders), and their shorebird predators. Indeed, the emergence of crawly creatures in the pitfall traps in Zackenberg has advanced in the last two decades, but I learned that Sanderlings in Zackenberg did not adjust the timing of their incubation. Puzzling.
So to further study the ecological interactions between Sanderlings and their prey (and the predators of Sanderling eggs such as Arctic foxes), this summer of 2018 I visited Zackenberg for the 13th time. It turned out to be an exceptional season…
Snow, very much snow!
Sanderlings and other Arctic shorebirds start laying eggs when the snow melts, which usually happens in the first weeks after their arrival, around late May or early June. Shorebirds are so-called income breeders, which means that females produce their eggs from locally acquired food. Their food appears only as soon as the tundra soil becomes snow-free.
Snow melts quicker with higher summer temperatures but it's not that straight forward because climate models also predict that the amount of winter precipitation (i.e. snow fall) will increase. If that is true, more snow may counteract the effects of warming summers on the timing of emerging of arthropods.
The study area in NE Greenland: in mid-June 2018 the tundra surface was close to 100% covered in snow. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
Before I migrated north to follow the Sanderlings, my Danish colleagues who were in Zackenberg since early June had already reported that there was a lot of snow on the tundra and warned me that I should prepare myself for a late breeding season. On satellite images of mid-June 2018 the tundra surface was close to 100% covered in snow, and not only in Zackenberg but in the entire Northeast Greenland national park. After a delay of two days due to fog in Zackenberg in which the small chartered planes cannot land, I arrived in Zackenberg on 14 June.
In the last two weeks of June usually most Sanderling are on their nest while some late breeders, or birds whose first clutches fell victim to egg predators, can be found singing or foraging in pairs while the females gather insects to produce eggs. But not this year…
The amount of snow was so extensive, that the majority of the shorebirds in the Zackenberg valley had flocked together in the snow-free area around the field station. Very lean birds were walking between the wooden buildings in the research station and could be approached up to a few meters, probably because they were not willing to spend their last energy and the much needed time to forage on escaping from human researchers.
The near vicinity of the research station Zackenberg was the only snow-free area in the wide surroundings. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
Catching shorebirds within the research station
It was clear that no shorebirds were going to nest within the next few weeks, if at all this summer. This exceptional situation gave me the opportunity to document the effects of the large amounts of snow on the behavior of shorebirds and their condition.
Usually, food left-overs from the station's kitchen are discarded via a hose into the nearby Zackenberg river, such that its smell will not attract Polar Bears to the station. However, the river also only started running on 20 June, which is 16 days later than the average date in 1998-2017; a new record. The researchers were forced to get rid of the grinded food remains onto the tundra close to the station. Luckily, it did not attract Polar Bears, but it did attract a flock of several tens of shorebirds, mainly Sanderlings, Turnstones and Red Knots.
Turnstones, together with a Red Knot and a Sanderling, foraging at the end of the sewage hose, close to a strategically placed trap. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
This gave me and my Danish colleague Jannik Hansen (Aarhus University) the possibility to catch birds and assess their body condition. We managed to catch 31 Sanderlings, 23 Turnstones and 12 Red Knots. Several birds were recaptured 1-3 times within a few days.
Jannik Hansen ringing a Red Knot caught in the snow free area around the Zackenberg research station. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
All individuals were in poor condition. Sanderlings weighed on average 44 grams (range: 33.6-54.6 grams). In comparison, Sanderlings in winter in the Netherlands weigh between 50-55 grams and incubating Sanderlings weigh on average 57 grams. It is good to realize that the incubating females have already produced a four-egg clutch weighing ca. 48 grams before they start incubation!
During the social Saturday evenings in the station, we continued catching and ringing shorebirds from the terrace. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
The locally colour-ringed birds were resighted daily near the sewage outlet and between the station buildings near snow edges. I daily woke up and went to bed with sightings of colour-ringed birds just a few meters from my bedroom window. The food waste close to the station was probably a unique opportunity for shorebirds, as there is only one village and a handful of stations in entire NE Greenland. The body masses of recaptured Sanderlings showed that they could maintain or even increase their body mass. But not all of them.
I found two dead Sanderlings near the station who seemed to have starved to death. One of them weighed 34 grams at first capture and only 32.6 grams when recaptured a few days later. It was found without head, weighing 26 grams. The other, un-ringed but intact, Sanderling weighed 31.8 grams which indicates that many of the Sanderlings were in very poor condition, indeed.
A Sanderling was found starved (and decapitated), weighing 26 grams. Its mass upon capture a few days earlier was 34 grams. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
I was delighted with the recapture of a Sanderling which I ringed in Zackenberg as a 7–day old chick on 14 July 2012 and was now almost 6 years old. Luckily, with a weight of 54 grams, she was among the few birds in a good condition.
The sewage near the station did not only attract hungry shorebirds, but also served as a feeding tray for the local Gyrfalcons. Jannik and I almost daily observed one of these large white falcons hunting shorebirds, often flying only a few meters over our heads! Although we did not witness a successful attack, prey remains and plucked feathers in the vicinity of the station indicated that either the Gyrfalcon or possibly Arctic foxes were preying on the starving shorebirds.
A non-breeding year?
During the two-week period that I was in Zackenberg, I did not hear a single singing Sanderling and only a few times I heard a singing Red Knot or Dunlin. I observed two Sanderling pairs, which however seemed to have broken up, or at least could not be found again, during the following days.
Also surprisingly few Sanderlings that were locally colour-ringed were observed. Because Sanderlings are very site faithful to their breeding territories, and given that the snow conditions were similar in the whole range of northeast Greenland, I think that the majority of Sanderlings never arrived in Zackenberg but stayed in more southerly regions with better feeding possibilities.
In recent years, Sanderling hatch dates in Zackenberg ranged between 27 June and 30 July (average 12 July). With an incubation duration of 22 days and four days to lay the clutch of four eggs, this implies that Sanderlings usually start laying around 16 June and at the very latest at 4 July. Given that on 27 June all of the Sanderling habitat in the Zackenberg valley was still covered under at least a meter of snow, it is very unlikely that Sanderlings and other shorebirds will breed this year in Zackenberg, or even entire Northeast Greenland.
On 27 June 2018, the Zackenberg valley was still completely covered with ca. 1 meter deep snow. The vicinity of the research station visible in the middle of the photo was the only area freed of snow. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
Request to report the proportion of juvenile Sanderlings within flocks
What are the consequences of a non-breeding season for the Sanderling population? This will depend on the scale at which the snow cover has affected Sanderling reproduction. The Sanderling breeding area is larger than northeast Greenland only, and it is possible that outside the area affected by snow, Sanderling reproduction will be good this year.
I ask for your help to document the effect of snow conditions on Sanderling reproduction and to score the number of juvenile Sanderlings within flocks at your local beaches. I prefer you to repeatedly observe and score the percentage of juvenile birds in the same area between August and November, following a standardised protocol. You can find more information in the manual which can be downloaded below. Download the Sanderling Ageing Manual here.
Klaassen, M., Lindström, Å., Meltofte, H. & Piersma, T. (2001) Arctic waders are not capital breeders. Nature, 413, 794.
Reneerkens, J., Schmidt, N.M., Gilg, O., Hansen, J., Hansen, L.H., Moreau, J. & Piersma, T. (2016) Effects of food abundance and early clutch predation on reproductive timing in a high Arctic shorebird exposed to advancements in arthropod abundance. Ecology and Evolution, 6, 7375–7386.
Reneerkens, J., van Veelen, P., van der Velde, M., Luttikhuizen, P. & Piersma, T. (2014) Within-population variation in mating system and parental care patterns in the sanderling (Calidris alba) in northeast Greenland. The Auk: Ornithological Advances, 131, 235–247.
Schmidt, N.M., Mosbacher, J.B., Nielsen, P.S., Rasmussen, C., Høye, T.T. & Roslin, T. (2016) An ecological function in crisis? The temporal overlap between plant flowering and pollinator function shrinks as the Arctic warms. Ecography, 39, 1250–1252.
British Marsh Award for International Ornithology won by Theunis Piersma
From: Royal NIOZ news
Jury: "Scientific work of high policy relevance"
Professor Theunis Piersma, of the University of Groningen and of the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, has been awarded the prestigious Marsh Award for International Ornithology by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The award, which is presented annually, is given to an individual scientist whose work on the international stage has had a significant influence on British ornithology. This year, the Marsh Award for International Ornithology has been awarded to Professor Theunis Piersma in recognition of his scientific work on migration, ecology and evolution of birds and other taxa.
Using Red Knots and Black-tailed Godwits as the maina study species, Theunis and his group established a framework to predict the physical attributes and behaviour of individuals based on climatic, disease and food related factors. His work as also focused on the evolutionary trade-offs involved in predation and anti-predatory behaviour across different species along the food chain. This work, in particular, holds high policy-relevance, as it informs on the risk of overexploitation of marine areas as well as our countryside.
Professor Piersma was also one of the driving forces in establishing the Global Flyway Network, which focuses on long-term demographic studies of shorebirds to identify natural selection pressures on this beleaguered group of birds.
Dr Daria Dadam, BTO, said, "Theunis is a very worthy recipient of the Marsh Award for International Ornithology. His work on shorebirds has revolutionised the way we think about how these birds interact with the habitats they live and feed in. Without this we would have a much poorer understanding of just how important our marine areas are for them, and how even small changes can have consequences for these global travellers."
Professor Theunis Piersma, said, "The Marsh Award is a fantastic recognition of what we have been trying to achieve as an international team, carefully deciphering the ecological factors determining their distributions and numbers, what these epic migrants have to say about the state our shared world. As deeply amazing the shorebirds are in their own right, they also have a role for us to play as the canaries in the global coal-mine."
As well as a leading academic, he is also a dedicated mentor to the younger generation of scientists. He has supervised 50 PhD students and 20 postdocs, and he and his team hosts visiting students and scientists from all over the World.
Marsh Award for International Ornithology is run in partnership with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and recognises an individual scientist whose work on the international stage has had significant influence on British ornithology, especially as reflected in the work of BTO scientists and volunteers.
Sara Oldfield, ambassador of the Marsh Christian Trust and Theunis Piersma.
Summer counts of waders in West Africa: few Red Knots but strikingly many Curlew Sandpipers in Parc National Banc d'Arguin!
Posted on August 7, 2017 August 7, 2017 by Team Piersma
Bob Loos of Global Flyway Network reports:
Curious to understand more about oversummering waders in West Africa, we set out to count our study areas in Parc National Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania.
The Mauritanian count team from left to right: Ahmed Medou, two members of the crew of the lanche, Mohamed Camara and Ahmed Amarajeyat on 11 July 2017. Photo: Bob Loos
During counts between 9 and 15 July 2017, carried out by the GFN team consisting of Ahmed Medou, Ahmed Amarajeyat, Mohamed Camara, Jan van Dijk and Bob Loos, a total of almost 65,000 birds were counted at six sites near Iwik, Mauritania (see map).
During high tides, the islands of Arel, Nair and Zira were counted, together with the coast of Ebelk d'Aiznaya and part of the Baie d'Aoutief.
The highest numbers were recorded for Flamingo (13,800), Curlew Sandpiper (12,614!), Dunlin (7,758) and Bar-tailed Godwit (5,046). Surprisingly, only 1,357 Red Knots were counted.
Curlew Sandpipers and Dunlins on the roost of Arel, 9 July 2017. Photo: Bob Loos
The last census of oversummering waders in Banc d'Arguin dates back to June 1988 when the entire area was counted between 8 June and 3 July during a WIWO expedition.
Comparison of the results with 1988 is not yet possible because the results per counting area from 1988 are not yet available. However we know that in June 1988 on Arel 2,400 Sanderlings and 1,400 Curlew Sandpipers were counted. We arrived at 2,450 Sanderling, and a spectacular number of more than 10,000 Curlew Sandpipers!
As expected, the majority of the oversummering waders were "young" birds, born in the previous summer and now in their second calendar year.
We also collected more than 300 colour-ring re-sightings from, among others, Red Knots, Bar-tailed Godwits, Curlew Sandpipers, Whimbrels and Spoonbills (both the local breeding birds of the subspecies balsacii and birds from the Dutch breeding population that decided to oversummer). More about those birds next time!
For curious readers we included the count data below.
Record numbers of Sanderlings on remote Wadden Sea island
Posted on August 2, 2017 September 1, 2017 by Team Piersma
More in Dutch here: NOS Nieuws August-September 2017.
Emma Penning reports that currently (1 August 2017) over 21,000 Sanderlings roost on the Wadden Sea islet Griend, on sand banks actively created to allow Griend to "wander" again. This is twice the Dutch wintering population (ca. 9,000), and as high as the British wintering population of 20,500 birds (Reneerkens et al. 2009). As much as 10.5% of the flyway population is now on Griend (van Roomen et al. 2015). A record number of Sanderling on a single roost!
Sanderlings roosting on Griend (in the Dutch Wadden Sea) on 1 August 2017. Photo: Emma Penning
Emma Penning from the Royal NIOZ, and a team of researchers of the University of Groningen and NIOZ, are currently working on the island to document the ecological and geomorphological consequences of the 'Griend Repair project' by the owner and manager Natuurmonumenten.
The island Griend, with on the lower left side the low and wide new sand bank. On the island itself vegetation cover has been removed to ensure breeding habitat for terns and gulls, forming strips of bare sand towards the northeast.
Griend is a small uninhabited island in the middle of the Dutch Wadden Sea. Natural erosion processes would make this type of islet "wander" through the Wadden Sea, but the protecting sand dyke created decades ago had washed away. In the summer of 2016, sand and shells have been resupplied so that natural processes can take their course again. At the same time vegetation cover on the island has been removed to ensure breeding habitat for terns and gulls. The new very low and 400 m wide sand bank protects against erosion from the west, and "feeds" the island with sand to stimulate growth at the north and south sides. This sand bar apparently is an attractive feature for Sanderling.
To investigate the effects of the recovery project, and to find out more about the natural functioning of this Wadden Sea island, an intensive four-year research project has started that will run until 2020. Tracking and tracing the movements of Sanderlings and documenting their diet is part of the program.
Already before the restoration, Griend was a central hub for Sanderlings foraging on the mudflats of the western Dutch Wadden Sea. We expected that they would continue to roost on Griend after the restoration, because the barren and open character of the new sand bank Griend would offer a safe place for Sanderlings. But this turn-out of >21,000 birds is more than we dared to hope for! Our brand new tracking data shows that indeed they use a variety of feeding locations throughout western Wadden Sea. More on that later.
Information about the restoration of Griend (in Dutch) at: Griend.org and National Geographic Nederland·België.
Associated team members: Emma Penning with Allert Bijleveld, Laura Govers, Jeroen Reneerkens and Job ten Horn.
Sanderling in Griend in August 2014, showing remnants of breeding plumage. Photo: Jeroen Reneerkens
Reneerkens, J., Benhoussa, A., Boland, H., Collier, M., Grond, K., Günther, K., Hallgrimsson, G.T., Hansen, J., Meissner, W., de Meulenaer, B., Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y., Piersma, T., Poot, M., van Roomen, M., Summers, R.W., Tomkovich, P.S. & Underhill, L.G. 2009. Sanderlings using African–Eurasian flyways: a review of current knowledge. Wader Study Group Bull. 116: 2–20.
van Roomen M., Nagy S., Foppen R., Dodman T., Citegetse G. & Ndiaye A. 2015. Status of coastal waterbird populations in the East Atlantic Flyway. With special attention to flyway populations making use of the Wadden Sea. Programme Rich Wadden Sea, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, Sovon, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Wetlands International, Wageningen, The Netherlands, BirdLife International, Cambridge, United Kingdom &, Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
Bar-tailed Godwits are arriving from Western Africa in The Netherlands!
Posted on April 18, 2017 April 18, 2017 by Team Piersma
Today (17 April 2017, 7:00 and 8:45) from the seabird migration observation point at Westerslag on the island Texel (Netherlands) we observed 425 Bar-tailed Godwits migrating northward. The groups of 40-60 birds each flew against an adverse northern wind (4B).
Remarkably, on the previous day (same time, same spot) not a single migrating Bar-tailed Godwit has been seen! The wind was quite the same: NW (4B).
In the Mokbaai at the southeast point of the island Texel at high tide at least 96 resting Bar-tailed Godwits were observed today, whereas on the 15th only three birds were present.
Along Egmond aan Zee, another seabird migration observation point, in period of three hours no less than 2428 Bar-tailed Godwits got through in northern direction. All birds are presumed to be the subspecies taymyrensis, who winter in Africa mainly Mauritania, and use the Wadden Sea as staging site. They will stay here close to one month, to recuperate before they migrate to their breeding grounds in Siberia.
The West African-Siberian Connection, in which the Wadden Sea plays a vital part as necessary stepping-stone between wintering- and breeding grounds, a distance of approx. 8,000 kilometres!
And now we are waiting for the first sat-tagged bird returning to the Wadden Sea!!
Will be continued…..
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About Team Piersma
Team Piersma is a group of researchers working with Prof. Dr Theunis Piersma under the umbrella of Global Flyway Network, a foundation under Dutch law. Their home bases are the University of Groningen, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, and associated institutes along the flyways where the team conducts studies on shorebirds and spoonbills.
Links to our programs
Global Flyway Network Australia
NIOZ Coastal Systems
King of the Meadows
University of Groningen – Meadow Bird Ecology
Metawad – Wadden Sea Research
Werkgroep Lepelaar – Spoonbill Working Group


Home » Relationships » Family and Friends » How Are You Getting Through Hard Times With Your Family?
How Are You Getting Through Hard Times With Your Family?
You're in "survival mode" when your family is dealing with a health, financial or relationship crisis. These easy ways to get through hard times will help you and your family cope with the most painful, difficult seasons in life.
I'm sharing the easiest ways to survive family stress because you need strength and energy to get through today. Right now you don't have emotional, mental, spiritual or physical resources to start healing broken family relationships or even think about the best tips for dealing with controlling parents.
Keep it simple. Right now you need to focus on surviving this season of your life. In this article you'll learn that figuring out how to get through hard times with your family can be as easy as remembering three things: be available, sticky, and hopeful.
Last night I met a young man — a fellow student at Regent College in Vancouver — who just found out his grandfather had a heart attack. My fellow student, who we'll call Sam, was raised by his grandpa and grandma back home in Ontario. Sam is here in British Columbia, unable to be with his grandparents in the hospital. His grandfather almost died, and may never fully recover from the heart attack.
Naturally, Sam is upset, worried and scared. This are normal feelings; he doesn't know if his grandpa will live, and he's not there to help or comfort his grandmother. He is going through hard times with his family…yet he can't support or love his grandparents the way he wants to.
I can't offer specific advice for all problems families face. These "easy tips" are general enough to apply to most situations, yet specific enough to help you get through the hardest time of your life without adding stress.
This article was inspired by Genesis 47 and is part of my She Blossoms Through the Bible project. You don't have to follow Jesus to benefit from my tips for getting through hard times — nor do you have to know anything about Jacob and Joseph's family. Just keep an open mind and take what you like. Let the rest fall away.
Genesis 47 tells us that Joseph was available and willing to help when his brothers and father needed him — even after a twenty year family estrangement because Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery and lied to their father Jacob about his death. Joseph was abandoned and rejected by his family. He had to survive life on his own in the foreign land of Egypt; Joseph was also imprisoned for several years after being falsely accused by Potipher's wife. Yet, despite all the pain his brothers caused, Joseph was willing to help his family get through hard times. And it wasn't just "hard times." Joseph's daily was facing death by starvation because of famine in Canaan.
How available and accepting are you? Your family can't get through this hard time alone. They need your support, help, and presence. Your family needs you to show up physically, emotionally, socially, and mentally. This is an easy way to get through hard times with your family because you need only show up and ask how you can help. Even better, you can look around and see what needs to be done. Do dogs need to be walked, food cooked, children driven to school, diapers changed (for babies or adults), plants watered, hugs given?
Getting through a hard time with your family requires you to be the solution, not the problem.
When did Joseph abandon his family? Never. Not in the hard times of mocking, rejection, and betrayal. Not in the long painful season of separation and estrangement. Genesis 47 tells us Joseph walked beside his family through the hard times of famine and loss, suffering and grief. Joseph's love and loyalty went a step further when he advocated for his family in front of the Egyptian pharaoh. Joseph is often compared to Jesus Christ in many ways; this instance stands out to me because both Joseph and Jesus stood before rulers and sacrificed themselves for the people they loved and wanted to save. Joseph and Jesus both stuck with their families. These men show us how to get through hard times…and it can be as easy as sticking with your family.
Are you sticking with your family through these hard times? You may not need to advocate for your family to an Egyptian pharaoh or Herodian king, but maybe you need to call a lawyer, doctor, or counselor. You may not have to literally risk your life or physically die, but maybe you can sacrifice some comforts or conveniences to help your family get through these hard times. Sticking with your family might not seem like an easy tip for getting through hard times, but it might be simpler than you think. Just one little sacrifice will go a long way. How can you stick with your family in ways that they notice and appreciate?
The fleeting nature of life is oft revealed in the book of Genesis. Genesis 47 is no different. "We have come to live in the land for awhile…" is how Joseph's brothers phrased their stint in Egypt (Genesis 47:4). Other Biblical translations call their season in Egypt a "sojourn", which means passing through temporarily. "My pilgrimage…" is how Jacob refers to his life in Genesis 47:9. The bulk of Genesis 47 describes how the years of famine unfold in Egypt…and how everyone survived. The book ends with life — which goes on — and a hint of death to come.
Remember that you WILL get through this hard time with your family. You may not know how long this season will last or how it'll end. You may not know which relationships will survive, or even who will live to see how it all turns out. Life is always filled with unknowns and uncertainties, questions and mysteries. If you can learn to live with hope and peace — joy and freedom! — then you'll find it easier to get through hard times with your family.
Where, you ask, does one get this hope and peace, joy and freedom? I hate to give a pat answer, but sometimes the easiest way is the simplest. Jesus is the answer. He is the way, the truth, and the light. Jesus can make the hardest times easy because He is more powerful, loving, strong, and compassionate than you could ever imagine. Do you know Jesus? If you have questions about God or having a personal relationship with Jesus, talk to a believer. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section at the end of this article.
If you're coping with problems at home, read 9 Ways to Survive Abusive Parents When You Live at Home.
What do you think about my "easy ways" to get through hard times with your family? Your thoughts — big and little — are welcome below.


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Now serving a life imprisonment on murder charges, C-Murder is the younger brother of Master P, the founder and president of No Limit Records. That explains his membership in the No Limit family, the label where nepotism rules, but he's actually one of the stronger rappers on the label. He may stick to the predictable gangsta musical blueprint, but as a rapper, he had an original style and interesting wordplay that separated him from the No Limit pack.
C-Murder made his first recorded appearance as a member of Tru, a trio that also featured his brothers Master P and Silkk the Shocker. Their first album, True, was released in 1995 and was followed by Tru 2 da Game in 1997. During that year, C-Murder appeared on a number of No Limit releases, including Master P's Ghetto D and the I'm Bout It soundtrack. In the spring of 1998, he released his solo debut, Life or Death; Bossalinie followed a year later. In 2000, he reached superstar status, first with his appearance in the 504 Boyz smash hit "Wobble Wobble," then with his third and most successful album yet, Trapped in Crime, propelled by the commercial success of its C-Murder/Snoop Dogg/Magic collaboration, "Down for My N's." This album also signaled the launch of Tru Records, C-Murder's new label, which promised to be accompanied by a clothing line and successive releases.
His 2002 release, Tru Dawgs, was a test for the label but was preceded by tragedy when C-Murder was arrested for shooting someone in a nightclub. He went to jail right after the album was finished and was there during the release of the CD. Master P was a vocal supporter of C-Murder since the incident, claiming that he wasn't involved and it was a case of mistaken identity. Regardless of Master P's support, C-Murder was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on October 1, 2003. Allowed to record from behind bars, the rapper released The Truest $#!@ I Ever Said in early 2005.
In March 2006, the Louisiana Supreme Court dismissed his conviction and C-Murder was released on a $500,000 bond. He was originally placed under house arrest pending a retrial on a second-degree murder charge, but after a couple months the judge allowed the rapper to travel in the Orleans and Jefferson parishes as long as it was during the daytime. Tru Story: Continued arrived in 2006 and was followed two years later by the album Screamin' 4 Vengeance along with C-Murder's first novel, Death Around the Corner. On August 5, 2009 he was brought up on second degree murder charges, then nine days later he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. This effectively ended his recording career until 2016, when Boosie Badazz covertly recorded and then released a collaborative album with C-Murder dubbed Penitentiary Chances. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & David Jeffries
Down For My Niggaz
C-MurderMagicSnoop Dogg
Best Of C-Murder
Ghetto D
Silkk The ShockerMaster PC-Murder
Akickdoe! (feat. Pimp, Bun B & Master P)
pimpBun BMaster PC-Murder
No Limit Soldiers II
Master PMr. Serv-OnC-MurderFiendMia XSilkk The ShockerBig EdMagic
No Limit Greatest Hits
Akickdoe!
C-MurderBun BMaster PPimp C
Life Or Death
Wrongfully Convicted
Aint No Heaven in the Pen
Calliope Click
Screamin' 4 Vengeance
The Tru Story...continued
Truest S*** I Ever Said - Screwed
The Truest S*** I Ever Said
C-P-3.Com
Trapped In Crime
Bossalinie
Tru 2 Da Game
2 Stainz (feat. Vs)
One False Move
For My Homies Dead & Gone (feat. Boosie Badazz & Lil Kano)
All I Wanted 2 Be a Soldier
Hard 2 Be Black (feat. Snoop Dogg & Boosie Badazz)
Bout That Life (feat. Boo Bundles)
One False Move (Remix) [feat. Akon, Young Buck & B.G.)
Be Fresh (feat. Detroit)
No Limit Soldiers
Producer, Composer, Executive Producer
Down 4 My N's
Snoop DoggC-MurderMagic


ETCH was established in February 2014. Its core team is comprised of LSTM researchers and support staff. We have a long standing partnership with EM Studios, an indie game development company based in Scotland with over 10 years' experience across a variety of platforms. They are a talented team of producers, digital artists and coders, together they bring our game designs to life.
While our team may be small, the ETCH community spans numerous departments, institutes and countries! We always endeavour to involve our project partners in the development and evaluation process and regularly consult key stakeholders to ensure our games are in line with current practices and policy.


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LA County's latest case of omicron is a USC student
The fully vaccinated student is self-isolating with mild symptoms.
The COVID-19 testing station last year outside of USC Engemann Student Health Center. (Photo by Ling Luo)
By Caitlin Hernández and Nike Falade
December 06, 2021 at 2:49 pm PST
A USC student is the second case with the omicron variant of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, said Chief Health Officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman in a student health briefing Monday.
"The case was detected as part of USC's routine surveillance testing program; all campus close contacts have been identified, were notified, and are in quarantine," according to USC's Dec. 6 COVID-19 update.
The student, who is fully vaccinated and experiencing mild symptoms, is doing well, according to the report. The student recently traveled to the East Coast for Thanksgiving break. They did not attend classes or on-campus activities during the infectious period.
The L.A. County Department of Public Health reported the second case Monday afternoon. It's likely that the student became infected outside of L.A. County during travel, according to the press release.
In the coming weeks, L.A. County is expected to see more cases of omicron from holiday travel.
"I think importantly for USC students right now is to make sure that if you've traveled you have been tested," Van Orman said. "Even if you haven't traveled, that you are getting tested this week, even though you're busy with finals week."
Van Orman encourages students leaving campus to get COVID-19 boosters and to test before and after traveling.
President Joe Biden enacted new testing rules because of the omicron variant. International travelers above two years old flying into the United States — regardless of vaccination or citizenship status — are now required to have a negative test a day ahead of boarding or show proof of recovery within the last 90 days.


I Skate, Therefore I Am: How to avoid cramps?
How to overcome Muscle Cramps in a protracted sesh?
Summer is almost here (see how positive I am: only 5 months to go) and with summer, more skate is on the way. Summer is also the season when cramps are more frequent. Have you noticed that when you skate in winter, you are less subject to cramps? One of the reasons is that in summer, your body heats up too much during a sesh and the cramps kick in. For all that play hard, cramps are normal: it is part of athletic performance of those who are pushing it to the limit. You can go very far with muscle pain, but the trick is to know when and how to answer to cramps warnings and simply stop and when to persevere and push it harder.
It's all right to push through some kinds of pain, for instance with the kind of muscle pain you feel at the end of a sesh, but other kinds of pain demand and require our attention and this includes chest pain, severe abdominal pain or muscle cramps.
Cramps are sudden involuntary contractions of our muscles. They are often so powerful that they bring us to our knees. And don't tell me this never happened to you. Typically, cramps happen when skaters are pushing themselves beyond their normal limits, when they skate too hard, without stopping or too long. Don't laugh or brag you never had cramps, because if that is true, that means that you are not skating hard enough, and that's no jokes.
but the two factors that most affect us, especially in summer are dehydration and muscle fatigue.
- See if you can relax the affected muscle(s). One way to do this is to contract the muscles that do the opposite action.
- Take a mineral supplement, even an antacid containing calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate will often help, of course, I will recommend a cereal bar or just a banana which is very rich in potassium.
- Gently massage the affected area.
1) Water is an essential component of the human body which is made up of about 43% to 75% of water. You could probably survive for 4 to 8 weeks without food, but it is estimated that lack of water could cause death in about 10 days, at room temperature.
2) Water acts as a nourishing agent. Water circulates through the blood and helps transport nutrients and oxygen towards organs and cells. It acts as a solvent for many nutrients and essential salts and makes them available for absorption by the body.
3) Water is a cleansing agent. It serves as a medium to carry metabolic wastes away from the body; this is accomplished in the form of urine and sweat. Think of it as a detoxifying agent. This is one of the most important functions of water in our body.
4) Water helps reduce the risk of kidney stones. The kidneys filter out waste products from the blood and channel them out of the body through the process of urine formation. Increasing concentration of certain salts in the urine increases the risk of kidney stone formation; and in most cases this risk can be reduced by drinking a lot of water and diluting the urine.
5) Water helps reduce the risk of sunstroke. Water is the single most important factor in the highly critical function of regulating your body temperature. On sunny days, we sweat more and the evaporation of the sweat has a cooling effect on the body. In the absence of sufficient water (when dehydration occurs) in your body, this temperature regulation breaks down and body temperature increases - and this leads to sunstroke. Severe sunstroke has the potential to damage your vital organs.
6) Water helps lower the blood pressure. When you lose more than optimal levels of fluid due to various conditions (not drinking sufficient water, heavy exercise, illness, etc), the body tries to adjust for the loss of water by constricting blood vessels so that the rate of loss of water (due to sweating and respiration) is reduced - which in turn leads to higher blood pressure. Drink ample water to prevent this from happening.
7) Water minimizes the risk of heart disease. Increased dehydration causes your cells and tissues to absorb water from the blood stream and thus decreases the volume of the blood flow (that's why constriction of blood vessels and the subsequent increase in blood pressure occurs - read #6). Increased blood pressure is a sign of a heart that's working harder than it should - it tries to pump more blood to excretory organs to compensate for the reduced volume. This could probably worsen a heart related ailment. Sufficient water intake will ensure that this does not happen.
8) Water does not contain calories. Feel free to replace those sugary soft drinks with water; water does not contain any calories - so unlike the soft drinks it's not going to increase your weight. Some studies have pointed towards how increased water consumption can in fact cause weight loss. Americans consume about 13 billion gallons of calorific drinks every year. You can imagine the net effect that can be achieved by replacing all that with water. Make it a habit - whenever you go to a fast food joint or a restaurant, ask for water instead of a soda.
Of course, you can still get cramps in winter but that's atypical and if that occurs, or if you have frequent cramps, you should seek a doctor's advice.
You should not ignore a muscle cramp, trying to push past them can lead to torn muscles or worse. At least, a cramp can prevent you to skate for a couple of days, and just that is not cool. Frankly I suffered lots of cramps last summer until I understood that some simple tricks such as drinking lots of water before, during and after the sesh and eating a cereal bar and a banana can help overcome the problem.


A very nice Rolex Submariner No Date 14060M from 2007 (Z-serial). This late pre-RRR No Date has been worn with care. It received a full official Rolex service in 2014 and comes with its original outer and inner box, Submariner booklet, green tag, folder, translation, calendar, official invoice of the Rolex service (2014) and the original Rolex warranty certificate. Stamped and dated on September 1st, 2007 in Switzerland (013).


Elie Saab Le Parfum is the first perfume to be released by Lebanese fashion designer Elie Saab. It was composed by Francis Kurkdjian (Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male, Narciso Rodriguez For Her and Juliette Has a Gun Lady Vengeance etc) and is billed as a Woody Floral.
Ellie Saab Le Parfum is described as an 'ode to light'.
N°19 Poudré is the latest fragrance release from Chanel and is the first flanker to the original N°19 fragrance which was released in 1971.
As the name suggests N°19 Poudré is intended as a softer, more powdery version of the original and is an attempt by the brand to rejuvenate and modernise the image of the N°19 line.
"A Floral-Powdery-Green fragrance that reveals a new powdery-musky facet.
The voluptuous scent of a bouquet of Iris blends with the freshness of a breeze of Vetiver roots: an enveloping, powdery fullness softened by White Musk notes.


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Last year we took a trip to Myanmar. I've heard so many things in the news about it that I wanted to see what was going on.
Just returned from a trip to Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Horse Point, La Sal Loop, and Route 279. Visited Warner Lake up FR0063 off the La Sal road as well.


Enough Already!: A survey of around 1,400 chief executives worldwide by PwC found 42% of CEOs worldwide and 65% of the U.S. CEOs said they were extremely concerned about overregulation. The U.S. number is the highest in the seven years the survey has asked the question, and is up from 57% last year.


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Vietnam's Mekong Delta region is likely to feel like a long way from home, as the relentless drone of scooters and mopeds is replaced the relentless drone of boat engines and around every corner of the maze of waterways that substitute for a road network is another jam-packed scene straight out of a travel documentary – from fishermen and floating convenience stores jostling for space to the large market boats advertising their wares on long poles at the bow.
It's a place that gives each sense a workout – your eyes scrambling to capture every detail of these not-exactly-seaworthy craft; the aforementioned four-strokes pumping out noise and exhaust fumes and the relentless humidity quelled only by the gentle breeze as your boat chops across the water. But when it comes to your tastebuds things start to get even more experimental.
Getting to and around the area is not the most straightforward if you forgot to pack your canoe and outboard so there's no real shame in tagging along with a group tour and, if you book it when you get to Vietnam it will be incredibly inexpensive.
That's exactly what we did, and a lunch stop on day 2 took us to Hien's Homestay where it was a delight to see a nice big charcoal grill sizzling away. This guy was not, however, knocking up burgers and chicken wings. If you like to be a bit adventurous with your food you will understand the excitement at a menu that listed a local trio of snails, snake and rat.
This guy was not knocking up burgers and chicken wings.
Unable to choose, I opted for the mixed grill and watched as a couple handfuls of larger-than-life snails were added followed by, for want of a better term, a spatchcocked rat. But things got pretty real when the grill master fished around in a tank next to him and produced a still-live snake before whipping it against the grate's brick support and tossing it on the grill.
None of the dishes exactly required a low and slow approach, so a few minutes later everything was chopped up into bitesize pieces and served up in leafy baskets with a side of fruit. As I always seem to find, the snail proved a challenge to access the goods – much to amusement of the local guides who were either trying to demonstrate the correct technique or simply mocking my own.
Once the correct cocktail stick technique established the meat itself turned out to be surprisingly tender with a garlicky sauce keeping things relatively familiar. The rat also maintained a familiar sensation with a marinade that wouldn't have been out of place on a rack of babybacks and a general experience not too dissimilar to picking through chicken wings.
The snake continued to be a venture into the unknown and is probably a better talking point than a meal. The grill did some lovely work on the skin as you would see with grilled fish, but the main question was whether to eat the little snake nuggets whole or discard the questionable-looking inners. In the end, neither option seemed ideal, being either not quite the right kind of chewy or ultra fiddly, respectively.
Given that it was slithering around with its mates just a few minutes earlier there was obviously no marinade or rub added which would have lifted the slightly bland natural flavour – but how many people have eaten grilled snake? It will certainly be an interesting one to try at home!


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Q: Politically correct way of ordering stacked barplots? What is the politically correct way of ordering stacked barplots that contain gender statistics? For example, in a stacked barplot for the number of grantees of a fellowship program, should one put male or female on the bottom? How about left/right if it's on horizontal bars?

A: I would argue against any stacked bar plots! I would, instead, make separate bars for men and women. If you just have two bars and two levels, it's not so bad, but stacked bar plots are often hard to read.

A: In a stacked barplot, put the largest category (the one with the greater number of occurrences) on bottom. The criterion here is readability.
In horizontal bars (the bars are horizontal), put the largest category on top. Again, the criterion is readability.
In histograms (vertical bars), use alphabetical order. Men/Women or Female/Male, it doesn't matter. The criterion here is political correctness, which is another way of saying that we try to avoid offending those who are easily offended.

A: It's true that we live in politically correct times; for the most part, in my honest opinion, that's probably a good thing, but it certainly does get out of hand sometimes.  Nonetheless, I have great difficulty envisioning any real-world scenario in which you will get in trouble for having put males or females on top in a stacked bar chart.  So, I will give here some general advice about displaying data that I've given to people from time to time (actually, much of this may be more relevant to non-stacked bar plots, dot plots, or other graphics, but could apply to stacked bar plots as well):

*

*Think about the story you are trying to tell.  Lets say that you are arguing that women are being given fewer grants than men, and you suspect discrimination.  Then you are using men as the basis for comparison, or the default.  In this situation, I would put men first, and women second.  I can equally well tell a story that compares men to women, where they are the default, and then I would put women first.  Likewise, when comparing several different types of treatments to a control, it is often intuitive to put the control first, and there may well be an intuitive ordering of the remaining treatments based on the story you are telling.

*With very many groups (n.b., not the case here) ordering by magnitude often aids clarity.  For example, if you wanted to list the proportion of grants to women for each state in America (i.e., 50 bars), the figure may be more readable if you sort the list into either ascending or descending order by percentage (choosing asc vs. desc by #1).

*Make your figures consistent with each other.  Quite commonly, you will have more than one figure.  Try to make them as similar as possible.  For instance, put the groups in the same order in each graph.  Likewise, if you use color, give the same groups the same colors in each graph.  This strategy will ease the cognitive workload of your readers / audience; I don't know how many times I've seen one graph where men are blue & women red and then the next one men are red & women blue--it makes it very difficult to keep track of what's going on.  Even adding redundant coding (e.g., color or crosshatching, etc.) that isn't strictly needed can help people absorb the big picture quickly and easily.

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