Amur Bird Project

The Amur Bird Project was a volunteer-based ornithological research and conservation initiative centered at Muraviovka Park, a non-governmental nature reserve in the Amur region of Far East Russia. Since 2011, students and biologists have monitored migrating songbirds and endangered breeding species in this poorly studied region, with a focus on migrant passerines and threatened taxa. Core activities include standardized bird migration research, long-term population monitoring, and targeted surveys for globally threatened species such as Baer’s Pochard and Yellow-breasted Bunting. Alongside research, the project emphasized environmental education by involving local students in fieldwork and organized annual summer schools for children from nearby villages to raise awareness of bird conservation and wetlands. The Amur Bird Project was organized by Wieland Heim and the Sergei Smirenski as well as the staff of Muraviovka Park.

Multiple summerschools, >100 volunteers and and students trained, and >30 international publications, e.g.

Anisimova V, Anisimov Y, Bastardot M, Beermann I, Kunz F, Heim W (2025) Geolocator tracking and ring recoveries reveal the migration of Siberian Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica tytleri. Journal of Ornithology 167: 293–297

Heim W, Hinninger L, Smirenski SM, Heim RJ (2025) Anthropogenic fire reduces migratory bird abundance and diversity at a stopover site. Scientific Reports 15: 40346

Strubbe S, Bourski O, Amshoff J, Meinken M, Tarasov V, Volkova V, Heim RJ, Kürten N, Hahn S, Thorup K, Heim W (2025) Tracking the migration of a Bluethroat Luscinia svecica svecica from central Siberia. Journal of Ornithology 166: 869–874

Heim W, Anisimov Y, Bastardot M, Davaasuren B, Nakul G, Anisimova V, Batbayar N, Beermann I, Dae We Aung T, Damrow L, Erdenechimeg T, Hahn S, Heim A, Heim RJ, Hölzel N, Kunz F, Levashkin A, Sander MM, Sankamethawee W, Thomas A, Kamp J (2024) Migration routes and adult survival of the Critically Endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola. Scientific Reports 14: 30593

Heim W, Bourski O, Shchemeleva K, Tøttrup AP, Thorup K (2024) From Siberia to Indonesia: tracking the migration of the Arctic Warbler Phylloscopus borealis. Journal of Ornithology 165: 557–562

Heim W, Damrow L, Korshunova A, Siegmund A, Volkova V, Hölzel N, Kamp J, Thorup K (2024) Satellite tracking of White´s Thrushes Zoothera aurea from the Ural Mountains, Russia, to central Mongolia. Journal of Asian Ornithology 40: 46-50

Bozó L, Animsimov Y, Heim W (2023) Differences in migration phenology of warblers at two stopover sites in eastern Russia suggest a longitudinal migration pattern. Avian Research 14: 100076

Heim W, Antonov A, Kunz F, Sander MM, Bastardot M, Beermann I, Heim RJ, Thomas A, Volkova V (2023) Habitat use, survival and migration of a little-known East Asian endemic, the Yellow-throated Bunting Emberiza elegans. Ecology and Evolution 13: e10030

Collet L, Heim W (2022) Differences in stopover duration and body mass change among Emberiza buntings during autumn migration in the Russian Far East. Journal of Ornithology 163: 779–789

Heim W, Thomas A, Berner I, Korschefsky T, Hölzel N, Kamp J (2022) Anthropogenic fire patterns affect niche breadth and niche overlap in sympatric songbird species. Science of the Total Environment 833: 155160

Beermann I, Thomas A, Anisimov Y, Batbayar N, Davaasuren B, Gerasimov Y, Hasebe M, Nakul G, Nergui J, Ktitorov P, Kulikova O, Heim W (2021) Range-wide breeding habitat use of the Critically Endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola after population collapse. Ecology and Evolution 11: 8410-8419

Eilts H-J, Feuerbach N, Round PD, Bourski OV, Allcock J, Leader PJ, Davaasuren B, Erdenechimeg T, Park J-G, Heim W (2021) Complex post-breeding moult strategies in a songbird migrating along the East Asian flyway, the Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler Locustella certhiola. Ecology and Evolution 11: 11-21

Bozó L, Csörgő T, Heim W (2021) Factors controlling the migration phenology of Siberian Phylloscopus species. Journal of Ornithology 162: 53-59

Heim RJ, Heim W, Darman G, Heinken T, Smirenski SM, Hölzel N (2021) Litter removal through fire – a key process for wetland vegetation and ecosystem dynamics. Science of the Total Environment 755: 142659

Wobker J, Heim W, Schmaljohann H (2021) Sex, age, molt strategy and migration distance explain the phenology of songbirds at a stopover along the East Asian flyway. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 75: 25

Bozó L, Csörgő T, Heim W (2020) Stopover duration and body mass change of two Siberian songbird species at a refuelling site in the Russian Far East. Ornithological Science 19(2): 159-166

Heim W, Heim RJ, Beermann I, Burkovskiy OA, Gerasimov Y, Ktitorov P, Ozaki K, Panov I, Sander MM, Sjöberg S, Smirenski SM, Thomas A, Tottrup A, Tiunov IM, Willemoes M, Hölzel N, Thorup K, Kamp J (2020) Using geolocator tracking data and ringing archives to validate citizen-science based seasonal predictions of songbird distribution in a data-poor region. Global Ecology and Conservation 24: e01215

Meissner BR, Rodriguez-Vera F, Hawlitschek O, Heim W, Jentzsch M (2020) Incidence of louse flies on birds from the Russian Far East (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) and investigation of the status of some taxa by DNA barcoding. Russian Entomological Journal 29(3): 327-335

Richter R, Heim A, Heim W, Kamp J, Vohland M (2020) Combining multiband remote sensing and hierarchical distance sampling to establish drivers of bird abundance. Remote Sensing 12(1): 38 [doi:10.3390/rs1201003]

Sander MM, Heim W, Schmaljohann H (2020) Seasonal and diurnal increases in energy stores in migratory warblers at an autumn stopover site along the Asian-Australasian flyway. Journal of Ornithology 161: 73–8

Frommhold M, Heim A, Barabanov M, Maier F, Mühle RU, Smirenski SM, Heim W (2019) Breeding habitat and nest site selection by an obligatory “nest-cleptoparasite”, the Amur Falcon Falco amurensis. Ecology and Evolution 9(24): 14430–14441

Heim RJ, Hölzel N, Heinken T, Kamp J, Thomas A, Darman GF, Smirenski SM, Heim W (2019) Post-burn and long-term fire effects on plants and birds in floodplain wetlands of the Russian Far East. Biodiversity and Conservation 28: 1611–1628

Heim W, Trense D, Heim A, Kamp J, Smirenski SM, Wink M, Wulf T (2019) Discovery of a new breeding population of the Vulnerable Swinhoe’s Rail Coturnicops exquisitus confirmed by genetic analysis. Bird Conservation International 29: 454–462

Bozó L, Csörgő T, Heim W (2018) Weather conditions affect spring and autumn migration of Siberian leaf warblers. Avian Research 9: 33

Bozó L, Heim W, Csörgő T (2018) Habitat use of Siberian warbler species at a stopover site in Far Eastern Russia. Ringing & Migration 33(1): 31–35

Heim W, Eccard JA, Bairlein F (2018) Migration phenology determines niche use of East Asian buntings (Emberizidae) during stopover. Current Zoology 64(6): 681–692

Heim W, Pedersen L, Heim RJ, Kamp J, Smirenski SM, Thomas A, Tottrup A, Thorup K (2018) Full annual cycle tracking of a small songbird, the Siberian Rubythroat Calliope calliope, along the East Asian flyway. Journal of Ornithology 159(4): 893–899

Heim W, Smirenski SM (2017) The importance of Muraviovka Park/Far East Russia for endangered bird species on regional, national and international scale based on observations from 2011-2016. Forktail 33: 77–83

Heim W, Trense D, Sokolova GV, Kitagawa T (2017) Increased Populations of Endangered Cranes After Amur River Flood. Waterbirds 40(3): 282–288

Sander MM, Eccard JA, Heim W (2017) Flight range estimation of migrant Yellow-browed Warblers Phylloscopus inornatus on the East Asian Flyway. Bird Study 64(4): 569–572

Heim W, Smirenski SM (2013) The Amur Bird Project at Muraviovka Park in Far-eastern Russia. BirdingAsia 19: 31–33

Heim W, Smirenski SM, Siegmund A, Eidam F (2012) Results of an autumnal bird ringing project at Muraviovka Park/Amur region in 2011. Avian Ecology and Behaviour 21: 27–40