Grey plover flight of 13,000km from Russia to Adelaide tracked by satellite tag

891 ABC Adelaide 

By Brett Williamson

Satellite tags are being used to plot the course of two grey plovers as they fly 13,000 kilometres back to Adelaide from Russia.

The birds were tagged earlier this year before they took off on their incredible long-haul flight.

The tags showed the pair flew non-stop 7,000km from Adelaide to China before they rested and continued on to Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean.

Tony Flaherty, the manager of coast and marine for Natural Resources Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, said satellite tags were invaluable research tools.

Every two days they plot the birds' location.

Mr Flaherty said the technology meant researchers could monitor their exact movements.

"[The tags] are very small, solar-powered units," he said.

"[They] come in under one gram [in weight]."

Previously, researchers had relied on bird sightings and made calculated guesses of their travels.

Mr Flaherty said it was incredible to watch the birds read complex weather systems and time their departures with complementary winds.

Continued 

Bird experts monitor satellite-tagged cuckoos as they leave Africa for UK

Cuckoos have started to make their way back to the UK for the summer, according to wildlife experts who are tracking the birds with satellite tags.

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is monitoring the progress of seven cuckoos as they migrate from their wintering grounds in Africa, as part of efforts to find out why the species is in decline.

In the past 25 years, cuckoo numbers in the UK have dropped by two-thirds (65%), the BTO said.

So far, five cuckoos are resting and feeding in West Africa before they attempt to cross the Sahara, the satellite tracking shows, while two have already made it across the vast desert and are transmitting from Algeria and Spain.

All of the cuckoos being tracked have been given names, with three - Coo, Larry and Peckham - named by the winning primary schools in a cuckoo bird naming competition.

Conservationists hope the birds fare better than they did on their way to Africa last autumn.

In particular they will be focusing on Welsh cuckoo David who is making his fourth northward tracked journey.

He is now the oldest serving satellite-tagged cuckoo as the most famous of the tracked cuckoos, Chris - who was named after TV presenter Chris Packham - did not survive the journey south across the Sahara to Africa last year.

Dr Chris Hewson, lead BTO scientist on the project, said "Our birds left the Congo Rainforest in mid-March and have been feeding up in West Africa before their dangerous desert crossing.

Read on ....

SATELLITE BID TO AID RARE CHICKS

By PRESS ASSOCIATION

PUBLISHED: 15:53, 3 July 2014 | UPDATED: 15:53, 3 July 2014

Rare hen harrier chicks have been fitted with satellite tags to track them as part of efforts to protect England's most threatened bird of prey.

The four-week-old chicks are being raised on the United Utilities Bowland Estate in Lancashire, in the first successful hen harrier nest in England since 2012, the RSPB said.

Last year, hen harriers failed to nest successfully in England for the first time since the 1960s, leaving the bird on the brink of extinction in the country, the conservation charity said.

But this year the protected bird of prey, which has been subject to long term persecution, appears to be faring slightly better with three active nests in England.

Chicks produced in the other English nests, one of which is also on the United Utilities Bowland Estate, will also be tagged when they are big enough.

Government conservation agency Natural England's lead adviser for hen harriers, Stephen Murphy, who fitted the tags, said: "The lightweight tags weigh just 9.5 grams and are solar recharging, giving an operational life of at least three years.

"This is where technology can really aid conservation as there is no better way of gaining an insight into the complex dispersal of these iconic birds."

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Mysterious Winter Wanderings of Puffins Traced

Photo: nnWikipedia

Braving pecks from sharp, colorful beaks, researchers placed tags on 25 Atlantic puffins in Ireland this summer to track the elusive birds during their winter migration.

It's unknown exactly where the birds go in the winter (other than "out to sea"), and they are difficult to track because they spend much of their time on the water.

The tags, which keep a record of the bird's location using satellites, will allow scientists to pinpoint areas that are important to the animals' survival.

Populations of puffins throughout the North Atlantic and on the island colony off the coast of southwest Ireland known as Skellig Michael have declined in recent years. The decline could be due to climate change or availability of fish prey, according to the Zoological Society of London, a conservation group involved in the project. The tags will be retrieved next summer when the birds return to their island home.


Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/23353-tags-track-puffins.html

More information on the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica):

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Atlantic_Puffin/id