Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Phase 1
11 Jan 2010 ? Project round-up
All satellite transmitters on the ducks have now stopped sending signals. The last signal was from Oeing (#44815, adult female Pintail) on 29-Nov-09 from the island of Iturup, in the Sakhalin Province near Hokkaido. Oeing was the only duck to send signals during the southern migration period and in doing so revealed that Hong Kong ducks do use different routes on northward migration compared to southward migration.
The 2008-09 satellite tracked ducks (Phase 1) generated much information to help conservationists and ornithologists in Hong Kong better understand the duck migration. Some of the key findings are:
- The Mai Po Nature Reserve gei wai and ponds and the Deep Bay inter-tidal mudflat were the most important habitats for ducks to build up their energy storage before migration.
- The most popular first stop-over site for the tracked ducks was the famous Chongming Dongtan wetland near Shanghai, which includes a large area of inter-tidal mudflat.
- Over 90% of the tracked ducks utilised the Yellow Sea during their northward migration. This clearly shows the importance of coastal wetlands around the Sea for Hong Kong?s migratory ducks.
- Northern China (Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia) and Siberia were popular final destinations for the ducks.
- Other interesting facts can be found here.
Phase 2 of the duck satellite tracking project started in December 2009 .
Movement of the Phase 2 ducks can be followed here.
Archived Reports
http://www.wwf.org.hk/eng/maipo/ducktracking/