Curlew tagging - a glimpse into the work of field ecologists

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Join BTO ecologists Rachel, Katharine and Steve as they GPS tag Curlews as part of ECHOES project work in Ballyteige.
The aim of this work is to find out which habitats are most important to protect for Curlew. If ECHOES researchers really want to understand coastal resources from the perspective of the birds, they need to 'see' what the birds are doing when they aren't able to look at them so easily (at low tide, overnight or in bad weather). Satellite tagging allows them to do this!
The ECHOES Project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.
Find out more about the ECHOES Project at www.echoesproj.eu
So far, tagging has revealed that Curlew travel surprising distances from estuaries to feed inland - particularly in darkness - and they seem to have a clear mental 'map' of known places to visit, making direct flights to and from favourite fields. This information will inform conservation work to protect Curlew populations.
Even with the combined (90 years!) experience of the ECHOES field team, there are endless unpredictable ways in which to fail to catch Curlew...

Опубликовано:

1 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 9

@moritzn.g.7205 Год назад

Marvellous birds! Thanks for your work aiming to protect them!

@anthonydavies6021 Год назад

Thank you for sharing this and the vital work you are doing. I've been lucky enough to see and hear lots of curlews on the Taw/Torridge estuary this winter, and to get close enough to hear their beaks probing in the mud, without in any way disturbing them - they could see me quite plainly above them on a bank. I understand filming the actual capture would be a big undertaking, and your primary aim is to ring them (after spending so many hours in the cold!). Fabulous and iconic birds.

@BTOvideo Год назад

Thank you!

@birdingnorthdevon 9 месяцев назад

Same here, lovely to see lots of Curlews on the Taw and Torridge Estuary, fantastic bird ❤

@macg33zr Год назад

Great work. I photographed and reported a tagged Curlew in Norfolk last year - I didn’t even notice the radio aerial in my photo until the researcher had told me about it! When the transmitters fall off do you manage to recover them for reuse?

@BTOvideo Год назад

Thank you for reporting the tag. The bird you saw was one of the Headstarted Curlews that are rescued from RAF airfields, hatched at Pensthorpe and released at Wild Ken Hill or Sandringham Estate (more info in this Twitter thread: twitter.com/_BTO/status/1561632744517632001). BTO is monitoring the Curlews post-release using leg flags, GPS tags and radio tags. Radio tags are glue-mounted and fall off when birds complete their next moult. These are unlikely to be recovered because birds move away from where they were tagged, and we have to be 'within range' (e.g. 500 m) with a radio receiver to be able to detect the tag. However, if something happens to the bird (e.g. it is predated) while it is still within the area we are searching with a radio receiver and antenna, then we can sometimes recover the tag (and find out what happened to the bird). Some GPS tags are recoverable if they download their location data remotely to the mobile phone network or over satellite. If they become stationary, for example a bird dies or the tag falls off), they can potentially continue to transmit their location if the tag can contact a mobile phone tower or satellite, and has enough battery charge to still transmit data. The researcher can ask someone nearby to have a look at its last transmitted set of locations to see if they can find the tag. BTO has been able to recover a number of GPS tags from e.g. Oystercatcher, Shelduck and Curlew in this way.

@PeterDolphin472 Год назад

I think many people like me would have liked to see how you catch them. The title of this video is Catching Curlews. The video shows no catching.

@BTOvideo Год назад

Thanks for the feedback, we've altered the title. To minimise disturbance we didn't have an extra person along to film. When the birds are going into the net (which is hidden in the grass) and then being tagged, the priority is making the process fast and low-stress for the Curlews. This is why we just have the still photos of the birds in the hand and being released that are at the end of the video. We hope you enjoyed this glimpse into ecological fieldwork nonetheless.