Migration Map

Migration Maps, Tõnn, Greater Spotted Eagle and Black Storks
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Kukelke
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Re: Migration Map

Post by Kukelke »

I see the data on the migration map were updated today (September 16), but osprey Tiiu doesn't seem to have moved since last time the map was updated on September 11, while other tracked birds did.
On the English version Tiiu is still in Algeria a bit west of the city of El Oued, but on the German and Estonian versions of the map Tiiu is still in Tunesia. :puzzled:

This could have a variety of reasons: the transmitter stopped working alltogether, there's no mobil phone network where she is (if data is sent via mobile phone masts, that is), no GPS coverage (not sure if that is possible at all), data is incomplete and not yet updated for Tiiu, or... the worst case scenario is that she has come to grief.
Fingers and talons crossed it's a technical issue.
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Kukelke
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Post by Kukelke »

I just saw that the migration map was updated today with data stretching until yesterday, but I couldn't detect any movement at all since last update 2 days ago, by none of the tagged birds on the list.

Are there technical difficulties with the map, or maybe with the transmitters?
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Felis silvestris
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Post by Felis silvestris »

Maybe no GPS reception where Tiiu is flying right now?
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Kukelke
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Post by Kukelke »

Felis silvestris wrote:Maybe no GPS reception where Tiiu is flying right now?
GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites cover every point on earth, so that's not the issue, but I guess you mean the way the data is sent.

If Tiiu's data is transmitted via GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) -'mobile phone towers'- then indeed Tiiu could be in an area without such coverage. After all, the marked for such GSM towers isn't exactly big in the Sahara desert where almost no people live.
However, if Tiiu's data is transmitted directly via satellites, then there's serious reason to be worried for Tiiu.

In fact, I am a bit worried. From other tracked ospreys we know that they use between 3 and 5-6 days to cross the Sahara to areas with at least GSM coverage. Tiiu reached this spot in Algeria already on September 10, and today is 9 days later, so one would expect her to have made the crossing by now.
There is, of course, always a chance of technical failure, that the transmitter itself is broken, by sand entering the device or something like that.

Btw, I noticed that other birds, in particular black stork Raivo, have moved on the migration map since the data came in yesterday. That the fresh data was processed on the map, with other words. But osprey Tiiu is still on the same spot...
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Post by Felis silvestris »

I think this is depending on the kind of transmitter used and this question only Urmas can answer. I have no idea what kind of transmitter they use for ospreys at the moment, the variety of them on the market is growing.
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Post by Kukelke »

September 20

Today a new batch of data came in, and osprey Tiiu is suddenly shown in Burkina Faso, about 100 km north of the border with Ghana:

Image


I haven't looked at all the details of her trip across the Sahara desert yet, but she's now in a green area on the satellite map, indicating that there's water where she is (and also enough people with mobile phones so there are also GSM masts to transmit data). Glad she made it, as I began to worry a bit the other day.

EDIT:

Some day by day details of Tiiu's route:

September 11 - from her roosting spot on the desert floor some 20 km from the city of El Oued Tiiu flew S-SW a bit more than 400 km 'till she roosted on the west-side of an area with only huge sand dunes.

September 12 - Tiiu flew first 1,5 km south, before changing course to almost straight west until she had left this area of huge sand dunes after some 40 km. She then took a south-westerly course for some 60 km, before changing to almost straight south again. At the end of the day she had flown about 350 km before she roosted for the night, just north of the Hoggar Mountains (l'Ahaggar in the local language) and about 85 km east of the desert town of Ain Salah.

September 13 - Tiiu began the day with flying some 140 km in a half circle around what looks like a mountain peak. She then continued over a highland area towards the S-SW for another 180 km or so, before she called it a day and roosted for the night. She flew about 320 km this day.

September 14 - she started her day the same as the previous day, by flying in a huge half circle around a mountain peak, before she continued more or less straight south, covering a total of some 260 km.

September 15 - Tiiu flew first some 85 km to the south, before changing direction to W-SW for another 100 km, crossing the border into Mali, covering a total of some 185 km.

September 16 - not much to say about this day: Tiiu first flew south for some 60 km before changing to S-SW for another 200 km, covering a total of about 250 km of more desert.

September 17 - same as yesterday: our desert-dwelling osprey flew first south some 50 km, after which she changed to a southwesternly course for another 170 km, roosting 10 km north of the border with Burkina Faso, covering some 220 km in total.

September 18 - Tiiu started the day by crossing the border into Burkina Faso on a south-southwesternly course, which she maintained more or less all day. The landscape now is slowly changing from desert to savannah, and she passed just west of Lake Bam, but didn't stop there to fish and/or drink. She flew some 240 km this day.

September 19 - Tiiu flew first about 10 km to the southwest, where she reached a small lake (or big pond) 4 km north of a place called Sarana. Her movements here indicate that she might have caught a fish and ate it (her first meal since the fish she caught in Tunesia on september 10), before she continued into a southwesternly direction, passing two other lakes without fishing there, until she settled down in a forested area, about 5 km from the Mouhoun River (aka the Black Volta River). She covered about 130 km in total this day.

In short, Tiiu flew nine days without food and water and covered a distance of about 2230 km through one of the dryest and hottest areas on earth.
No human would have survived these conditions for more than a few days at best, but osprey Tiiu, and many other ospreys, do this twice a year. :bow:
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Post by macdoum »

:2thumbsup: Thank you Kukelke for finding all those details of Tilu's route down south-west. Bravo.!!
:wave:
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Post by Janne+Ais »

I am deeply moved and bow to the nature and these wonderful ospreys.



Thank you, Kukelke!
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Post by Kukelke »

September 21

The data received today shows that Osprey Tiiu continued her journey south yesterday:

Image


September 20 - Tiiu moved quite a bit around on her roosting spot, jumping from tree to tree and from branch to branch before she headed south again. After some 25 km straight south, more or less following the course of the Mouhou (Black Volta) River, her movements indicate that she caught breakfish. With renewed energy Tiiu then just continued to follow the Mouhoun River, which here forms the border between Burkina Faso and Ghana, cutting off bends in the river and crossing the border between the two countries every few km. After flying about 90 km, Tiiu was right over the middle of the river when she suddenly made a sharp turn to the southeast, flew another 5 km and settled down on 50 meter from the border. This sudden sharp turn over the river might indicate that she caught dinner there, and then found a suitable perch to eat, and call it a day. She covered only 120 km in total yesterday.
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Post by Felis silvestris »

Kukelke wrote:...
GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites cover every point on earth, so that's not the issue, but I guess you mean the way the data is sent.
...
If Tiiu's data is transmitted via GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) -'mobile phone towers'- then indeed Tiiu could be in an area without such coverage. After all, the marked for such GSM towers isn't exactly big in the Sahara desert where almost no people live.
However, if Tiiu's data is transmitted directly via satellites, then there's serious reason to be worried for Tiiu.
...
I quote from an article about the Bavarian Black Stork Telemetry Project http://www.lbv.de/unsere-arbeit/vogelsc ... chnik.html - translation of the page can be found here: viewtopic.php?p=344354#p344354
Should the transmitter at some occasion have no good network, it will send an SMS with the last five GPS positions to the Move Bank, so if in doubt, one still can follow the animal and read the data using the hand-held scanner. The data storage is large enough to save data of up to one year, so even after wintering in Africa no data will be lost. Once the transmitter has again mobile network reception, it will send all collected GPS positions and movement profiles to the Movebank.
It looks like exactly this has happened here, new data was not available during the crossing of the Sahara and was sent as soon as the connection was restored.
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Post by Kukelke »

September 26

Today a new batch of data came in from the period september 21-24 and osprey Tiiu didn't migrate any further from the area on the border between Burkina Faso and Ghana where she arrived on september 20.
Her day-to-day movements indicate that she has been fishing and otherwise takes it very easy, exactly what ospreys usually do on their wintering grounds: catch a decent sized fish once (or twice) a day, and then just sit perched and do pretty much nothing.
I'm not sure if this is Tiiu's actual wintering spot, or if she is just staging here and recovers from the Sahara crossing, before she continues to her final destination a bit closer to the coast. Time will tell.

Here the maps with her movements each day:

September 21
Image

September 22
Image

September 23
Image

September 24
Image
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Post by Riitta »

Thank you for the new datas and explanation & conclusion of Tiius movements the last days, Kukelke. :thumbs:
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Post by Kukelke »

September 28

New data on the migration map, from September 24-27, and osprey Tiiu has been on the move again.


September 24 - after the previous batch of data was downloaded, Tiiu spent the day with making short trips in the area. According her movements she caught fish in the Black Volta river about 200m south of where the previous batch of data stopped:
Image


September 25 - Tiiu first flew 2 km to the northwest, to a bend in the river where she has been perching before on many occasions the last days, but so decided that it was time to move on, without catching a fish. She then flew about 80 km to S-SW, 'till she was almost on the border between Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, before changing course to S-SE for another 40 km where she crossed the border into Ivory Coast and roosted in a tree there, about 20 km north of a place called Bouna. She covered about 120 km in total this day:
Image


September 26 - Tiiu started the day by flying S-SE for about 40 km, 'till she reached the Black Volta river again, which here forms the border between Ivory Coast and Ghana. I'm not sure if she caught a fish in the river there, eventhough her movements tell us (after zooming in) that she changed direction while she was directly over the river. She did definately not perch shortly after this change of course over the river, but flew in a direction a bit west of straight south. After a while she slightly changed direction towards S-SW and flew for about 120 km, covering a total of about 160 km this day, before she roosted in the middle of nowhere:
Image


September 27 - After flying about 8 km to W-SW, Tiiu changed her course towards S-SW and flew another 60 km before changing it to S-SE and flying another 10 km. She is now some 7 km from the town of Agnibilékrou in Ivory Coast, and this is where the data stops on the 27th:
Image


Right now she is some 20 km from the border between Ivory Coast and Ghana, and flying towards Ghana, so we'll have to wait and see where Tiiu will be and if she caught fish, next time a batch of data is transmitted. I couldn't detect any lakes, ponds or rivers close to where she's now, just jungle.

Here Tiiu's route from Estonia to Africa so far:
Image
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Post by Janne+Ais »

If she keeps her direction, she could reach something, which seems to be a little lake to me. South of the town Agnibilegrou. What would you say?
Thank you for your efforts! Very interesting for me, this day by day survey!
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Post by Kukelke »

Yes, now you mention it, there's a small pond of about 120x200 meter there, perhaps good enough to catch a meal, but nothing to stay for.

If Tiiu moves some 110 km straight south, east of the capital Abidjan, she will first reach a big lake called Lac d'Ayamé which contains many small islands, and another 20 km south of that again the Parc National des IIES Ehotilés, where there are several lagunes - all perfect habitats for ospreys with plenty of trees and shallow waters to fish in.

If she continues 250 km to the east, she will end up at Lake Volta in Ghana, also good osprey habitat by the looks of it. About 150 km west and southwest of her current position there are also plenty of lakes, rivers and lagunes which look like decent places for ospreys to spend the winter.

But if I had to make a qualified guess, I would think that Tiiu is heading for the area of Lac d'Ayamé and/or Parc National des IIES Ehotilés, and that this will be her final destination.
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Post by Janne+Ais »

Kukelke wrote:Yes, now you mention it, there's a small pond of about 120x200 meter there, perhaps good enough to catch a meal, but nothing to stay for.
That's what I think, too. Let us see, what she will do. Maybe she knows exactly, and we will be surprised.
By the way a question: Do ospreys only fish freshwater fishes? Then she probably will not fly to a lake, which already contains seawater like lagoons sometimes do?
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Post by Kukelke »

Janne+Ais wrote:By the way a question: Do ospreys only fish freshwater fishes? Then she probably will not fly to a lake, which already contains seawater like lagoons sometimes do?
Ospreys also catch and eat saltwater fish without problems as long as the saltwater is relatively shallow and there aren't too much waves or other surface disturbances, so they can see and reach their prey (Monty of the Dyfi nest for example, catches the bulk of his fish in the salt and brackish waters of the estuary of the Dyfi river).
In this regard the shallow and usually calm waters of lagoons are excellent hunting grounds for ospreys.
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Post by Janne+Ais »

Thank you, Kukelke!
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Post by Riitta »

I am fascinated by the enormous number of details you find out of Tiuu's route, Kukelke. Image
A special thank you. Image

I am waiting for the next episode...
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Post by Kukelke »

:hi: Riita, and thanks.

I've learned from other people's analysis of osprey routes, so I know a bit on what to look at.

--------------

Btw, here's a link to a blog written by Paul Wildlifewriter, which tells us why it is important to track ospreys: http://thewildlifewriter.blogspot.co.uk ... sprey.html
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