2010
Award Recipient: Dr. Bernd Nicolai

Dr. Bernd Nicolai of the Heineanum Museum in Halberstadt received
the 2010 Werner Sunkel Foundation Encouragement Award for his research on the biology of the black redstart.

The Werner Sunkel Foundation places particular emphasis on promoting the use of bird banding to address contemporary research questions and conduct basic research. This is also a hallmark of the 2010 award winner’s work. In addition to his professional duties as director of the Museum Heineanum in Halberstadt, Dr. Bernd Nicolai has consistently conducted extensive field ornithological studies, particularly on the biology and ecology of the black redstart. The papers he has published on this subject since 1986 cover a wide range of topics and establish him as one of the foremost experts on this species. Issues to be clarified through banding—such as territory occupation, breeding biology, and phenological topics—are addressed just as carefully as morphology, diet, song, and so on. Further visible evidence of his wide-ranging commitment includes, for example, the publication in 1993 of the “Atlas of Breeding Birds of Eastern Germany,” his contribution to “The Birds of the Drömling Nature Park” in 1996, and his work on “The Breeding Birds of Halberstadt” in 2003. He has repeatedly initiated surveys of birds of prey in the northern Harz foothills, particularly the red kite, which has its global center of distribution here. The special responsibility that arises from this locally has always been a particular concern of his. Also worthy of note are the 2003 DO-G annual meeting in Halberstadt, which he organized, and his initiative to hold an exhibition titled “MoVo – Modern Bird Paintings” there regularly every two years since then. The “Silver Owl” award presented there is the only prize in Germany for bird painters, and the number of entrants has been steadily increasing ever since.