Tracking results 2004-2005 (26.08.2004-22.08.2005)
Back to the Polar Ural 2004-2005 main satellite tracking page»
26.08.2004 - The map shows approximate positions of the satellite transmitter tagged LWfG in polar Ural, European Russia. The numbers refer to the identification number of each satellite transmitter (there is no significant difference between blue and red dots). The birds have still not moved out of the area where they were caught and ringed.
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30.08.2004 - the LWfG (id 24677) has started the migration south. On 20.08 it had moved across the Ural Mountains and was situated in the Ob River. The distance between the ringing site and the new area in the Ob River is approximately 150km.
03.09.2004 - the LWfG (id 24677) has moved another 140 km southwards in the Ob River and are now situated close to the village Lophkari. In addition has the LWfG (id 10866) started the migration as well. This bird has also moved from the ringing site, across the Ural Mountains and to the Ob River and is now situated close to the village Chemasi (the distance flown is approximately 450km).
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08.09.2004 - the three LWfG are still present at the sites reported on 3 September. Two birds in the Ob River and one still remaining in the moulting area. See an unprojected image showing landscape features»
12.09.2004 - all three LWfG are present at the same sites as reported on 3/9 and 8/9.
17.09.2004 - all three LWfG are present at the same sites as reported on 3/9, 8/9 and 12/9. Data received by the transmitters indicate that all three birds are alive.
20.09.2004 - PTTs 10865 and 10866 are still in the same areas as reported on 3/9 (see map above).
23.09.2004 - The LWfG with PTT 10866 has continued from the staging area in the lower Ob River, Russia, to Lake Ayke in Aktybinskaya Region, northern Kazakstan.
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| Migration tracks 23/9 | Detailed map: Aktybinsk, Kazakstan |
27.09.2004 - The LWfG with PTT 10866 has moved another 75 km southwest from Lake Ayke in Aktybinsk Region, northern Kazakstan. The bird (PTT 24677) staging in the lower Ob River has now also arrived in northern Kazakstan. It was on 26/9 located appr. 45 km north of Lake kulykol in the Kustanay Region!
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Migration tracks 27/9
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Detailed map: Kustanay/Aktybinsk, Kazakstan |
04.10.2004 - The LWfG with PTT 10866 is still located in the same area as reported on 27/9 (Lake Shalkar Karashan) in Aktybinsk Region, northern Kazakstan. The LWfG with PTT 24677 staging north of Lake Kulykol has neither moved since 27/9. The PTT 10865 seems to have been lost. No signals were received in the last transmitting period (which is 8 hours ever forth day for all three transmitters).
06.10.2004 - The LWfG with PTT 10866 has moved a little northwards again and is now in some smaller lakes approximately 25 km east of Lake Ayke. The LWfG with PTT 24677 has now also moved down to Lake Shalkar Karashan in the Aktybinsk Region. It seems as the very important Lake Kulykol is not used by any of the two remaining satellite transmitter tagged LWfG. This is expected since the lake has been in the process of drying out for several years. In autumn 2003 there was hardly enough water for the geese to be able to swim (see Aarvak et al. 2004: Inventories and catching attempts of Lesser White-fronted Geese at Lake Kulykol, Kazakstan, in 2002 and 2003 - PDF, 1.6 MB).
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| Migration tracks (5/10, unprojected) | Detailed map: Kustanay/Aktybinsk, Kazakstan |
11.10.2004 - The male 10866 has moved back to Lake Shalkar Karashan on 8/10. The other male 24677 was also located there on 10/10.
19.10.2004 - The male 10866 is still at Lake Shalkar Karashan (both on 12/10 and 16/10). The other male 24677 has been moving a little around and was located on Russian side of the border on 19/10.
25.10.2004 - Bad news: The satellite transmitter with id 10866 has not sent any signals the last two bouts and we fear that the bird is now lost.
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The other male 24677 was located on Russian side of the border on 19/10, but was on 23/10 again located in Lake Shalkar Karashan.
31.10.2004: The male 24677 is still in northern Kazakstan. On 28/10 it was located close to Lake Shalkar Karashan. There are still no signals from id 10866.
10.11.2004: The male 24677 has finally left Kazakstan and was located in Azerbaijan on the west coast of the Caspian Sea on 6/11. It seems as the satellite coverage has been poor. During the eight hour signal period around 1/11, no locations were received and we feared that also this bird was lost. However, in the last eight hour period on 6/11 two locations were received. The bird is stil alive and migrating! Azerbaijan are from earlier know to host 5-6000 wintering LWfG. The upcoming satellite telemetry data will give us an uique possibility to locate some of the most important wintering areas in Azerbaijan.
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| Migration tracks 6/11 | Detailed map: Azerbaijan |
12.11.2004: The male 24677 has again moved and spent the night between 10-11 November on the lake Arazlisu Reservoir on the border between Iran and Azerbaijan (close to the Azeri city Naxçivan). The locations were on the Iran side of the border (western part of the lake).
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| Detailed map: Azerbaijan, Armenia and northern Iran |
16.11.2004: The PTT 24677 gave signals, but the satellite coverage were not sufficient to give any positions. A satellite map of the area on 25 January 2003 hints to the fact that this is not an wintering area?!
21.11.2004: The male 24677 has again moved and was on 20/11 located at Haçli Lake in eastern Turkey. The lake is an Birdlife IBA area (see BirdLife International 2003. BirdLife's online World Bird Database IBA TR084). The area is not protected.
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25.11.2004: The stopover in Turkey was short. On 24/11 the male 24677 was located in eastern Iraq, just ca 80 km east of the capital Baghdad. The area seems to be little populated with large wetland areas (33.17'N 45.13'E). The site "Haur Al Shubaicha" in Iraq is an Birdlife important bird area (IBA IQ017). Birdlife International writes: "The site appears never to have been visited by an ornithologist, though it was considered by Scott and Carp (1982) to be possibly of great importance for wintering waterbirds".
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| Migration tracks 24/11- Iraq | Detailed map: Blue squares are localities with old records of LWfG |
30.11.2004: The male 24677 is still alive. It was at 06:00 (GMT) located in the same area in Iraq as on 25/11.
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| The location of PTT 24677 on 30 November in Iraq |
06.12.2004: The PTT 24677 gave signals, but the satellite coverage were not sufficient to give any positions. Please note that the duty cycle of the transmitter has changed (see below).
11.12.2004: The bird (PTT 24677) has moved 150 km nortwards. It was locatet at 34.32'N 45.02'E on 11 December. We have no information about this area. The locations came during daytime, and the bird was probably in the feeding areas and not on a roosting lake.
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| Migration tracks December- Iraq | Detailed map: central Iraq |
17.12.2004: The bird is still alive and was located in the same area as reported on 11/12.
22.12.2004: The bird is still alive and was located in the morning today in the same area as reported on 11/12 and 17/12. The last location seem to be at two small lakes situated close to the village Ghajafa».
28.12.2004: The bird (PTT 24677) has moved 170 km soutwards and was on 27/12 located (32.56'N 45.11'E) in the watershed of the Tigris river, just some 40 km southwest of the first Iraq locations.
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| The location of PTT 24677 on 29 December in Iraq |
03.01.2005: The bird (PTT 24677) has moved 85 km eastwards and was on 2/1 still located (32.51'N 46.04'E) in the large wetland areas southeast of Bagdhad. The last locations were just 45 km northeast of the city Al Kut.
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| The movement and location of PTT 24677 up to 2 January 2005 |
07.01.2005: The bird (PTT 24677) has moved 40 km south and was located 30 km east of the city Al Kut.
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| The movement and location of PTT 24677 up to 7 January 2005 |
13.01.2005: On 13/1 the bird (PTT 24677) had moved some tens of km to the south and east of the location of 7/1, and is now located in Tigris near the city of Shaykh sa'd.
18.01.2005: On 18/1, however, the bird (PTT 24677) had moved back to the location of 7/1 ca 30 km east of the city of Al Kut.
24.01.2005: On 24/1 the bird (PTT 24677) is still alive at the same place as on the 18/1.
30.01.2005: On 30/1 the bird (PTT 24677) has moved further south-east, and is now located near the city of Al Amarah.
04.02.2005 In the morning, the bird (PTT 24677) stayed in a wetland to the north of the town Sayyid 'Abid al Karim. In the afternoon it was plottet in a Lake system Haur Al Suwayqiyah to the west of the town Al Mazalim before it later in the afternoon returned to the same area as it was plotted in the morning.
10.02.2005. In the evening 9/2 and in during night time 10/2, the bird (PTT 24677) was still in the same area north of the town Sayyid 'Abid al Karim.
16.02.2005. On 15/2 the bird was still located in the area as reported on 10/2.
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| The movement and location of PTT 24677 up to 16 February 2005 |
21.02.2005. On 20/2 the bird was still alive and located in the area as reported on 10/2 and 15/2. The lake is an Birdlife important bird area (IBA IQ020). Birdlife International writes: "Site description A large isolated lake on arid steppic plains c.10 km north of the River Tigris and c.20 km north-east of Kut. This rather shallow and brackish lake formerly covered c.50,000 ha but was partly drained in 1945; it is supplied by numerous streams from the Zagros mountains and by rainfall run-off, as well as by flooding overspill from the Tigris. Birds: Prior to 1945, the haur was known as a traditional wintering area for geese, ducks, shorebirds and other waterfowl, with huge numbers of Anser anser, A. albifrons, Branta ruficollis, Tadorna ferruginea, Anas platyrhynchos, A. strepera, A. crecca, A. penelope, A. acuta, A. clypeata, Phoenicopterus ruber and Recurvirostra avosetta (Georg and Savage 1970a,b, V. Robertson in litt.). According to Savage (1968), the area probably held one of the highest concentrations of geese in the Middle East, and was also very important for Anas querquedula on passage."
01.03.2005. Updated data show that the bird moved and was on 26/2 located 150 km southeast in the Haur Chubaisah area north of Al Amarah. The site is an Birdlife important bird area (IBA IQ030). Birdlife International writes: "Site description A complex of large haurs with extensive marshes on the plains to the east of the River Tigris, north of Haur Om Am Nyaj. Birds According to Savage (1968), these wetlands are particularly important for Anser anser, Anser erythropus and Tadorna ferruginea."
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| The movement and location of PTT 24677 up to 26 February 2005 in Iraq |
04.03.2005. This morning the bird was still located in the Haur Chubaisah area north of Al Amarah (as reported on 1/3).
10.03.2005. The bird was on 9/3 still located in the Haur Chubaisah area north of Al Amarah (as reported on 1/3 & 4/3).
16.03.2005. The bird had on 15/3 moved back to the lake system Haur Al Suwayqiyah, north of the city Al Kut. The satellite transmitter is still working good, and we are now really crossing fingers for the potential of receiving data on spring migration. That has never been accomplished before in any satellite telemetry study on lesser white-fronted geese.
21.03.2005. No data received during the transmitting period.
28.03.2005. Spring migration has started and the bird had on 26/3 migrated to the Kizlyarskiy Bay in Dagestan (44.41'N 46.49'E). This is approximately 35 km north of the locality (eastern part of Stary Byuryuchok) used by a satellite transmitter tagged lesser white-fronted goose during autumn staging in 1998 (see Tolvanen et al. 1998. New data on migration of Lesser White-fronted Goose from Taymyr Peninsula. Casarca 4: 193-196).
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| Migration tracks per 28 March 2005 |
04.04.2005. The bird was on 31/3 still present in the same area in Dagestan as reported on 28/3.
06.04.2005. The bird was today still present in the same area in Dagestan as reported on 28/3 and 4/4.
12.04.2005. The bird was yesterday still present in the Kizlyarskiy Bay in Dagestan as reported on 28/3, 4/4 and 6/4. It is very likely that during the next bout of signals the bird will have migrated further north. It will be very exciting whether the bird will migrate on the east or west side of the Ural Mountains.
17.04.2005. The spring migration is continuing and the bird was today located (47.49'N 54.11'E) in Kazakstan north of the Caspian Sea between the places Kenbay and Zhanterek.
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| Migration tracks per 17 April 2005 |
25.04.2005. Early morning on 23/4 the bird was back in the Kustanay Oblast in northern Kazakstan. The locations were situated in the steppe area (51.36'N 62.18'E) between the lakes Mamyrkol, Kulykol and Batpakkol. The next locations will hopefully give us the answer on which lake the goose use for roosting.
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| Migration tracks per 23.04.2005 | Detailed map: northern Kazakstan |
29.04.2005. On 28/4 the bird was located in the lake Ozero Shagyrkol (51.41'N 62.43'E), Kustanay Oblast in northern Kazakstan.
04.05.2005. Early today the bird was still located in Ozero Shagyrkol as also reported on 29/4.
09.05.2005. Today the bird was still located in the Ozero Shagyrkol area as also reported on 29/4 and 4/5.
15.05.2005. The bird is now back in Russia after a flight of 955 km! Early today the bird was located in Tyumen Oblast in Russia (58.30'N 71.22'E). This is further east and a little longer south than anticipated if the bird was migrating back to the Polar Ural area (European Russia). The staging areas in the Ob river situated between Khanty-Mansiysk and Surgut is approximately 300-350 km further north. The staging area is situated on the route for LWfG migrating from Kazakstan to the Taimyr Peninsula. Hopefully the transmitter will also last for this last leg of the migratin back to the breeding areas!
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| Migration tracks per 15.05.2005 |
20.05.2005. TODAY THE BIRD WAS BACK AT THE SITE WHERE IT WAS CAUGHT IN THE POLAR URALS!! After covering the last leg of the migration (1040 km) the bird finally came back to the site where it was caught. In fact it was located only 1-1.5 km from the ringing site! For the first time the whole migratory journey of a lwfg has been mapped. A GREAT SUCCESS!! Congratulations to all involved but especially to Vladimir Morozov who caught the bird and mounted the satellite transmitter in the Polar Urals during summmer 2004!
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| Migration tracks per 20.05.2005 |
28.05.2005. On 26/5 the bird was still alive in the area where it was caught.
01.06.2005. On 31/5 the bird was still alive in the area where it was caught.
10.06.2005. On 6/6 the bird was still alive in the area where it was caught.
12.06.2005. On 11/6 the bird was still alive in the area where it was caught.
14.06.2005.
On 14/6 the
bird was still alive in the area where it was caught.
20.06.2005.
On 18/6 the
bird was still alive in the area where it was caught.
25.06.2005.
On 22/6 the
bird was still alive in the area where it was caught.
28.06.2005.
On 28/6 the
bird was still alive in the area where it was caught.
05.07.2005.
On 3/7 the bird
was still alive in the area where it was caught.
05.08.2005.
On 5/8 the bird
was still alive in the area where it was caught. This probably
means that the bird has bred sucessfully and that it is moulting in the
breeding area.
12.08.2005.
On
11/8 the bird was still alive in the same area as on 5/8
17.08.2005.
On 17/8 the
bird was still alive in the same area as on 11/8
22.08.2005. On 18/8 the bird was still alive in the area where it was caught.
Tracking results autumn 2005
28.08.2005 - the LWfG (id 24677) has started the migration southwards from the breeding areas. Today it had moved across the Ural Mountains and was situated in the Ob River (66.07'N 66.19'E) in the exact same area as it used in 30 August 2004! The distance between the ringing site and the new area in the Ob River is approximately 150km.
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| A satellite image of the lower part of the Ob river. The red dot markes the place where the goose was located |
08.09.2005 - the LWfG (id 24677) has not given any locatins during the last period. It has happened before that we have not received any signals during a transmission period. If the goose is alive we expect the next signals appr. 9-10/9.
LATEST 15.09.2005 - the LWfG (id 24677) is probably lost since no signals have been received for several transmitting periods.
More updates? Good
question. It seems as we by now have lost the signals from the Iraq
goose. We will continue to run data queries on the ARGOS server, though
it seems unlikely that we will get any more data from the bird. The
normal schedule would be signals for eight hours approximately
Introduction, summaries and more about the satellite telemetry? See the main satellite tracking page»
© The material on the present page concerning satellite telemetry on Lesser White-fronted Geese and the results presented are copyrighted by the Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose Conservation Project and the Goose, Swan and Duck Study Group of Northern Eurasia, and should not be reproduced by any means without written permission. Contact Tomas Aarvak for details (see contacts pages»).
