African Odyssey Project – Satellite Tracking of Black Storks Ciconia nigra Breeding at a Migratory Divide

The African Odyssey project focuses on studying the migration of the black stork Ciconia nigra breeding at a migratory divide. In 1995-2001, a total of 18 black storks breeding in the Czech Republic were equipped with satellite (PTT) and VHF transmitters. Of them, 11 birds were tracked during at lea...

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Published inJournal of avian biology Vol. 39; no. 5; pp. 500 - 506
Main Authors Bobek, Miroslav, Hampl, Radek, Peške, Lubomír, Pojer, František, Šimek, Jaroslav, Bureš, Stanislav
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Blackwell Publishing 01.09.2008
Subjects
Animal migration behavior
Artificial satellites
Aviculture
Birds
Breeding
Female animals
Satellite tracking
Seasonal migration
Storks
Transmitters
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Summary:The African Odyssey project focuses on studying the migration of the black stork Ciconia nigra breeding at a migratory divide. In 1995-2001, a total of 18 black storks breeding in the Czech Republic were equipped with satellite (PTT) and VHF transmitters. Of them, 11 birds were tracked during at least one migration season and three birds were tracked repeatedly. The birds migrated either across western or eastern Europe to spend the winter in tropical west or east Africa, respectively. One of the juveniles made an intermediate route through Italy where it was shot during the first autumn migration. The mean distance of autumn migration was 6,227 km. The eastern route was significantly longer than the western one (7,000 km and 5,667 km respectively). Important stopover sites were discovered in Africa and Israel. Wintering areas were found from Mauritania and Sierra Leone in the west to Ethiopia and Central African Republic in the east and south. One of the storks migrating by the eastern migration route surprisingly reached western Africa. Birds that arrived early in the wintering areas stayed longer than those arriving later. On the average, birds migrating via the western route spent 37 d on migration compared to 80 d for birds migrating via the eastern route. The mean migration speed in the autumn was 126 km/d and the fastest stork flew 488 km/d when crossing the Sahara. The repeatedly tracked storks showed high winter site fidelity.
ISSN:0908-8857
1600-048X
DOI:10.1111/j.2008/0908-8857.04285.x