Steppe eagle during May 2017

It's been about a month since I last reported on the movements of birds we are tracking

The Egyptian vulture we are tracking has not been heard of for about a month.  I hope it is either breeding or simply avoiding the Oman summer heat in a place where there is no GSM coverage.  We'll wait and see.

One Steppe eagle that we have been tracking also disappeared about a month ago on the border between Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.  I hope this is because it is now in an area where there is no GSM network, and that it will come into range sometime this summer or when it starts migration in the autumn.

The other Steppe eagle that we are tracking seems to have slowed its migration in far western Kazakhstan.  Evgeny Bragin from Kazakhstan tells me that this area has a high density of Steppe eagles, both breeding and non-breeding, and that a tracked Eastern imperial eagle also ranged in this area.  A close look at the Google Earth imagery suggests the area is very remote, but the eagle seemed to spend some time around some wells (as suggested by the vehicle tracks), but is slowly wandering north.

World Migratory Bird Day

World Migratory Bird Day is tomorrow!  For more than ten years now, World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) has raised awareness about the need for conservation of migratory birds and their habitats, about the threats they face, their ecological importance, and about the need for international cooperation to conserve them. Every year people across the planet take action and organize public events such as bird festivals, education programmes, exhibitions and bird-watching excursions to celebrate WMBD. Although the main day for the international celebrations is 10 May, but activities can also be undertaken at any time of the year when the regional peak of migrations is best.

The Steppe Eagles we have been tracking from Oman have been "celebrating" WMBD for some time now, as they make their own migrations.  Below is a map of their movements since they have left Oman. Currently, one is in far western Kazakhstan and the other was in northern Turkmenistan when it was last heard on 22 April.  We may not hear from the bird last heard in Turkmenistan for a while because its transmitter uploads data via the GSM network, and it is likely that there will be no network in many of the places it might visit this summer.  We'll have to see.  When it does find a network, it will dump the archived data, and fill in the gaps.

Anyway, Happy WMBD!

Northward migration of two Steppe eagles fitted with transmitters in Oman in early 2017.