Estonian Black Storks Migration on Birdmap 2023/24

[Anne7]

A closer view of Kuremari’s location south of the Salihorskaje Reservoir on the River Sluč


Salihorskaje Reservoir
Kuremari is somewhere across the water.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/RpQdvfMYkr9s1csH9


https://maps.app.goo.gl/sYyjyLuEjn33A1CDA


Good night

[Francesca_V]

Kuremari has found a very pretty place.

[Hulbi Lorm]

Birdmap Overview – April 17
Spring migration 2024 on Birdmap shows routes and distances flown as of February 15

KERGU
02.04.2024; Distance: 6103 km (+112 km); Kergu has reached his nest in Pärnu County, Estonia
Kergu's nest can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSWzOFpAarQ

KUREMARI
New data: 16.04.2024; Distance: 6123 km (+146 km in 2 days); Kuremari sent data near Salihorsk, Belarus
Previous data: 14.04.2024; Distance: 5977 km (+614 km in 4 days); Kuremari has sent data near Kopyshche, Ukraine from the Belarusian side of the border

NURME
08.04.2024; Distance: 6369 km (+268 km in 2 days); Nurme has reached his summer grounds in Estonia

[Francesca_V]

Hi everybody!


KUREMARI · 17.04.2024
From 16.04. 17:08 UTC until 17.04. 16:26 UTC
Battery: 75%
Distance: 156 km

https://www.google.de/maps/d/edit?mid=1 ... sp=sharing

Kuremari is in Belarus. She made a little turn to the West and will be soon in Lithuania. She found a nice place in the fields around the river Njeman/Memel.






https://images.app.goo.gl/p4kFYLVA1imnQyZy9

[Anne7]

Many thanks, Hulbi and Francesca!

[Francesca_V]

Oh, it is my pleasure, Anne.

At least we have Kuremari.


(To me it is still unbelievable that we perhaps lost four more birds this winter. )

[Francesca_V]

Hi everybody!


KUREMARI · 18.04.2024
From 17.04. 16:11 UTC until 18.04. 16:26 UTC
Battery: 66%
Distance: 110 km

https://www.google.de/maps/d/edit?mid=1 ... sp=sharing

Kuremari is Lithuania.
She found a nice place in agricultural fields. Not far away is an interesting biophere reservate.
She will be soon are home.

[Anne7]

A very recent article below (about juvenile and subadult BS from Germany) says:

In spring, departure dates from the wintering sites in Sub-Saharan Africa change significantly as individuals age.

The median departure dates:
- April 16th in the first year
- April 5th in year 2,
- March 13th in year 3.


Influence of age on spatial and temporal migratory patterns of Black Storks from Germany
Felix Fisel, Georg Heine, Carsten Rohde, Martin Wikelski & Andrea Flack
Open access article published on 02 April 2024

Abstract
How the migration behavior of long-lived birds develops throughout their life is still a research question in ornithology that is largely unanswered. Here, we analyzed GPS data of 70 juvenile Black Storks during the first 3 years of their migration to determine the influence of age and experience on migration patterns. We focused on the choice of the migration flyway, as well as the movements in the wintering area, and the changes in departure times with increasing age. Migratory routes of German Black Storks were divided into the western (82% of all tracked individuals) and eastern flyways (16%). The central migratory flyway through Italy or Greece was taken only by two individuals and never repeatedly. In addition, we found that the wintering area decreased by almost 60% during their first 3 years of life. In addition, spring departure dates from the wintering areas also became earlier with increasing age. However, we did not find changes in departures from the breeding area in autumn. Thus, our study shows that age and migration experiences have a considerable influence on essential migratory decisions in Black Storks. Further, it also demonstrates that older storks rely strongly on previous experiences to perform their migrations efficiently.

Conclusion
Here we found a significant influence of age on migratory decisions in Black Storks. The noticeable shift toward earlier departure dates in spring is most likely driven by a need to reach breeding sites on time to compete for suitable nesting sites. These are still limited in Germany due to a lack of mature forests with large old trees. In addition, a reduction in wintering movements indicates that birds can benefit from experiences and spatial memories formed in previous year.
These ontogenetic developments are also important to quantify because of phenological and habitat changes induced by anthropogenic impacts. Spring is anticipated to start earlier, thereby affecting reproductive outcomes. Further, smaller wintering areas in older years highlight the new need to protect these learned habitats because storks rely on their experiences to efficiently perform their migrations and, thereby, increase their breeding output. Thus, additional research may be necessary to understand the factors determining migration patterns to be able to predict whether Black Storks can adapt to our human-changed environment.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.10 ... 24-02170-3

the pdf (full text):
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/1 ... 2170-3.pdf

[Francesca_V]

Anne,

Thank you very much for this article. It sounds very interesting.

[Anne7]

My pleasure, Francesca!

Possibly Kuremari will reach Latvia today.

She doesn’t seem to be in a big hurry, though.

[Hulbi Lorm]

I'm wondering if the cold weather is keeping Kuremari (and maybe / hopefully some other black storks) back for the time being. It seems to get better next week - maybe we will see someone then... Clinging to every straw right now.

[Hulbi Lorm]

Birdmap Overview – April 19
Spring migration 2024 on Birdmap shows routes and distances flown as of February 15

KERGU
02.04.2024; Distance: 6103 km (+112 km); Kergu has reached his nest in Pärnu County, Estonia
Kergu's nest can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSWzOFpAarQ

KUREMARI
New data: 19.04.2024; Distance: 6396 km (+273 km in 3 days); Kuremari sent data near Mištūnai, Lithuania
Previous data: 16.04.2024; Distance: 6123 km (+146 km in 2 days); Kuremari sent data near Salihorsk, Belarus

NURME
08.04.2024; Distance: 6369 km (+268 km in 2 days); Nurme has reached his summer grounds in Estonia

[juta]

KUREMARI

20.04.2024

No data.

[juta]

KUREMARI


Traker map 19.04 - 20.04.2024

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing

Distance 77.5 km
Battery 39 %





Tracker map 20.04 - 21.04.2024

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing

Distance 127 km
Battery 36 %

Kuremari flew back to south Lithuania. The right thing to do because we have very bad weather in Estonia just now.

[Francesca_V]

Poor Kuremari!

(In Germany we have bad weather too. Snow down to 400 m )

[Anne7]

Hello, and thank you all !

The last known location (on 21.04) of Kuremari is near the Belarusian border, in a beautiful area south of Kalesninkai, Vilnius County.
We can see a forest and a swamp.




A view of Kuremari's area

https://maps.app.goo.gl/J8FTwwr6vZQDfdwHA


Another view of Kuremari's area near Kalesninkai, Lithuania
https://up.picr.de/47468591ci.jpg
https://maps.app.goo.gl/SLUhJSR9e68LNe1J8


But the weather isn’t nice there at the moment either.
It is cloudy with a wintry mix of snow and rain. With lower temperatures by day, sleet can turn into snow. The sun will not be visible. A very high chance of Precipitation near 90% is forecast.

Weather forecast




I expect Kuremari will not have flown (much) today.

[Hulbi Lorm]

Quite a bleak situation, really.

Wintery weather, the Karula nest and the Jan / Janika nest haven't seen a single visitor (as far as we know), and Kergu remains alone - the only black stork we got to see on camera at all.

Doesn't look like too many happy endings this spring...

[Anne7]

April 22nd

▶︎ TRACKER MAP
KUREMARI_April22
From 21-04 at 16:10 UTC until 22-04 at 16:08 UTC
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing

Battery: 37%
Distance: 26.6 km

Kuremari is back in Belarus.
She is looking for food in irrigated fields east of Radun, slightly north of a little settlement (?) called Pliki
Radun is an urban-type settlement in Voranava District, Grodno Region, in western Belarus. As of 2023, it has a population of 2,078.

[Anne7]

.







I wish I could bring happier news, Hulbi.
But you are right, the situation does not look very rosy.
I fear the worst for Kaia.

And none of our juvenile BS have sent data so far.

[Kioko]

We must hope for the best, May is still ahead.