Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Birds with tracking devices begin returning
Sun, Nov 28th, 2010 9:09 pm BdST
Moinul Hoque Chowdhury
bdnews24.com senior correspondent
Dhaka, Nov 28 (bdnews24.com)?The migratory birds, carrying tracking devices, have begun returning to Bangladesh, nearly nine months after they were released to collect data on their journey.
Three birds, carrying such transmitters on their back, have already come back. These birds are returning after visiting Siberia and high mountains in China and Tibet, experts and ornithologists told bdnews24.com after observing the data from the satellite.
These migratory birds fly high as well as travel thousands of kilometres, they added.
In March, nine birds had been fitted with transmitters and rings in an effort to track their routes, behavior and to determine whether they are responsible for transmitting any diseases like bird flu.
The tracking devices had been fastened to a total of 16 birds while another 34 had been ringed and were then freed in Moulavibazar district's Kulaura and Baralekha areas.
The US Geological Survey had supplied the transmitters, which also funded the project along with WTB New York and the Food and Agricultural Organisation.
India-based Bombay Natural History Society is assisting with the ring project.
The geological survey specialists are collecting the route information of the migratory birds and they are being assisted by the forest directorate, Wildlife Trust Bangladesh and Bangladesh Bird Club.
Bird Club president Inam Al Haque told bdnews24.com on Saturday, "So far three birds have come back. We hope that the others will also return by December as the winter becomes unbearable in Siberia by then.
He, however, added that they could not locate some birds. "Sometimes new feathers may cover the transmitter which will hinder their tracking."
The rest of them are at present flying somewhere between China, Mongolia, Tibet and Bangladesh, Haque said.
"We will get information through signals on how high the birds fly, their routes and how many days they stay at each location on the way. The weight of the transmitters (five grammes each) had not caused any injury or death to any of the birds," he added.
Tapan Kumar Dey, forest conservator (wildlife and nature conservation circle) of the Forest Directorate, told bdnews24.com that a transmitter is only 3 percent of a bird's weight, the height is 1.5 inch, width 1 inch and the antenna is maximum 5 inch high.
Migratory birds come to Bangladesh every year as a stop on the 'Asian Flyway' and 'East Asian-Australian Flyway'. They stay in foreign countries between March and October and have now started to return.
A total of 620 species of birds could be seen in Bangladesh even a few decades ago. Now more or less 477 species are available, among which, 301 are local and the rest are migratory.
Anwarul Islam, a Dhaka University professor and executive chairman of Wildlife Trust Bangladesh, said they had earmarked those species of birds which travel the longest distance routes, for example from the North Pole via Mongolia and Himalayas to Bangladesh.
Islam said migratory birds are usually blamed for carrying Avian flu virus, which can now be examined and determined.
Before fastening transmitters and rings it had been examined carefully that whether any of the birds were carrying the virus. Their blood and stools had also been examined.
Asked about the data collected from the satellite carrying birds, Inam Al Haq told bdnews24.com on Saturday, "It not possible to reveal the results of the research. New samples from the marked birds will be collected and specialists will analyze them. Results can be finally determined only after that."
Inam's bird club ringed 35 more migratory birds at the Sonadia Island in Cox's Bazar on Saturday, he said.
http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=180055&cid=2
Sun, Nov 28th, 2010 9:09 pm BdST
Moinul Hoque Chowdhury
bdnews24.com senior correspondent
Dhaka, Nov 28 (bdnews24.com)?The migratory birds, carrying tracking devices, have begun returning to Bangladesh, nearly nine months after they were released to collect data on their journey.
Three birds, carrying such transmitters on their back, have already come back. These birds are returning after visiting Siberia and high mountains in China and Tibet, experts and ornithologists told bdnews24.com after observing the data from the satellite.
These migratory birds fly high as well as travel thousands of kilometres, they added.
In March, nine birds had been fitted with transmitters and rings in an effort to track their routes, behavior and to determine whether they are responsible for transmitting any diseases like bird flu.
The tracking devices had been fastened to a total of 16 birds while another 34 had been ringed and were then freed in Moulavibazar district's Kulaura and Baralekha areas.
The US Geological Survey had supplied the transmitters, which also funded the project along with WTB New York and the Food and Agricultural Organisation.
India-based Bombay Natural History Society is assisting with the ring project.
The geological survey specialists are collecting the route information of the migratory birds and they are being assisted by the forest directorate, Wildlife Trust Bangladesh and Bangladesh Bird Club.
Bird Club president Inam Al Haque told bdnews24.com on Saturday, "So far three birds have come back. We hope that the others will also return by December as the winter becomes unbearable in Siberia by then.
He, however, added that they could not locate some birds. "Sometimes new feathers may cover the transmitter which will hinder their tracking."
The rest of them are at present flying somewhere between China, Mongolia, Tibet and Bangladesh, Haque said.
"We will get information through signals on how high the birds fly, their routes and how many days they stay at each location on the way. The weight of the transmitters (five grammes each) had not caused any injury or death to any of the birds," he added.
Tapan Kumar Dey, forest conservator (wildlife and nature conservation circle) of the Forest Directorate, told bdnews24.com that a transmitter is only 3 percent of a bird's weight, the height is 1.5 inch, width 1 inch and the antenna is maximum 5 inch high.
Migratory birds come to Bangladesh every year as a stop on the 'Asian Flyway' and 'East Asian-Australian Flyway'. They stay in foreign countries between March and October and have now started to return.
A total of 620 species of birds could be seen in Bangladesh even a few decades ago. Now more or less 477 species are available, among which, 301 are local and the rest are migratory.
Anwarul Islam, a Dhaka University professor and executive chairman of Wildlife Trust Bangladesh, said they had earmarked those species of birds which travel the longest distance routes, for example from the North Pole via Mongolia and Himalayas to Bangladesh.
Islam said migratory birds are usually blamed for carrying Avian flu virus, which can now be examined and determined.
Before fastening transmitters and rings it had been examined carefully that whether any of the birds were carrying the virus. Their blood and stools had also been examined.
Asked about the data collected from the satellite carrying birds, Inam Al Haq told bdnews24.com on Saturday, "It not possible to reveal the results of the research. New samples from the marked birds will be collected and specialists will analyze them. Results can be finally determined only after that."
Inam's bird club ringed 35 more migratory birds at the Sonadia Island in Cox's Bazar on Saturday, he said.
http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=180055&cid=2