Saturday 16 November 2013

Standby.....

Standby! Team Stork are waiting excitedly for news about funding...

Initial meetings have gone well and we should hear in a few weeks whether the funds will be released for us to attach more loggers to adult storks on Portuguese landfills this winter. I wont jinx it by saying any more about it now, just know that we are all very excited and have been tentatively getting ready to spring in to action the moment we get confirmation to go ahead.
Reading over wintering stork rings, Portimao landfill, 
on a gorgeous hot day in November. Chilly, damp UK
in November or Portuguese landfill in November? 
Its a no brainer!


This will sound very wrong to non birders (and some birders too) but I have been missing landfill! Not the stench, or the mud with the dubious bubbling black pools and the bits of unrecognisable floating stuff, but the ring reading. A whole day can fly in a flash by hunting back and forth through the ever changing sea of white stork legs hunting for those illusive colour rings!
Yum! A circuit board! 
One of these fellas is colour ringed but the legs 
closed over it by the time I got out my camera.


Here are some landfill photos to get you all excited with me!



The landfills are great for gull rings too. Peter Rock has been visiting landfills in Portugal to read gull rings almost since before I was born. Sadly this year we wont be meeting up to wash the unique landfill perfume from our throats over a few beers because he is already out there. All my gull ring sightings will be sent his way. All gull ring records are valuable -submit them to Peter Rock (pete.rock@blueyonder.co.uk)
http://www.cr-birding.org/node/85


Above: Beja Landfill, where storks almost outnumber bags 
of garbage. There is always a good haul of colour    
rings after a day here with a telescope.                      

Above: Taboueira landfill, Aveiro                                                       Above: Taveiro landfill, Coimbra

Due to EU directives, open landfills are closing. Aveiro and Coimbra have already closed and sealed -like the mound on the right in the Coimbra photo (above). Reading rings, both gulls and storks, will be a lot trickier in the future once scavenging on landfill is no longer possible and the birds disperse over the countryside.
 

All the gulls flush accompanied by the thunder of poo on plastic....
...far from shelter the only thing a ring reader can 
do is improvise cover and wait for the flock to pass 
over, hopefully without too many direct hits.            
   Daniel Cadwallader knows whats coming!                





Left: Preparing to catch storks. Ines Catry and Carlos Pacheco deploy the clap net at Alvito landfill, Right: a captured stork is hooded to prevent stress whilst the logger harness is fitted.


 Jose Alves, Phil Saunders and Daniel Cadwallader
 reading rings at Evora landfill whilst waiting for a 
stork to walk in to the traps.

 Letting you in to a secret here, if the funding doesn't come off I am thinking of taking some holiday and booking a long weekend in Portugal just to read rings on landfills!









Monday 2 September 2013

Storks and Espionage!


http://news.sky.com/story/1135591/stork-held-in-egypt-on-suspicion-of-spying
 I never thought "Stork" and "Espionage" would appear in the same sentence! The bird is still in police custody so I really hope my storks do not get detained for questioning anywhere on their travels! Coincidentally, this avian James Bond has similar colour rings to my birds: white letters on a blue background! It is part of a tracking project by a french team.


Here is another link to the great work my co-supervisors the BTO are doing with loggers on cuckoos. No accusations of spying yet for these birds: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23867438




Friday 2 August 2013

To Morocco and Beyond!


Once again it has been a while since my last blog post -(more from the lab and the reasons I have been so busy in another update). The exciting news is that in the last few days 2 of the chicks (Lucy and SPEA) have crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and are now in Morocco!

BUT HOW FAR SOUTH WILL THEY GO DURING THE WINTER? 

SPEA, from Beja to Morocco and fast moving south
Storks are very opportunistic and go where the food is, therefore they are not faithful to any particular wintering site. Pairs do not winter together and only meet up again at the start of the next breeding season. Previous tracking studies have shown that some years a stork may stay in north Africa whilst the same individual the next year could travel all the way south to near Cape Town! Where will our logged chicks go? My guess is west Africa -perhaps Mali or Mauritania or as far south as Cameroon, but all bets are good. All suggestions are welcome so get in touch and tell me where you think they might go.

Tracking the progress of the chicks alongside the logged adults should be possible on the website of the BTO from the end of this week, once we have sorted out technical issues getting the logger data to upload to the website....






Nests get very crowded towards the end of the breeding season before the well grown chicks leave the nest. In the north of Portugal and near landfill sites it is not unusual to see 5 or even 6 chicks in one nest.













Chicks stay around the nest being fed by the adults for some days or even weeks after fledging.




How do you tell a chick from an adult?
Until the final stages before fledging chicks have shorter, black bills where as the adults have longer, red bills. 

When the chicks are older their bills start to turn red so it can be tricky to tell them apart from adults. If in doubt look at the rump, the adults black flight feathers overhang the tail where as the chicks are never longer than the tail, as can be seen in this photo =>

For approximately the first 70 days of life the bill grow in direct proportion to the age so measuring bill length can be used to age the chick.







Saturday 22 June 2013

Chicks with Loggers

Lucy (3L+) fitted with her Micro Logger
Apologies for the long pause since my last post, fieldwork was hot and hectic but very successful and, as always, lots of fun. I visited all my study colonies to record number of chicks per nest and gather more samples. More on that in a later post. More importantly, you are, of course, all wanting to hear about the logged chicks! 

Firstly, my sincere thanks to all who generously donated money for loggers -and for supplying good, strong names for the chicks. May they live long and fly far.

Unfortunately we could not fit loggers to the chicks of logged adults. The nests were inaccessibly high or the adults failed to raise any chicks. We even had the local firemen on standby to help us access Carlos's nest but when I visited the colony I discovered he had also failed to breed. Most disappointing not to have firemen helping me out in the field! 
Instead the loggers were fitted to the chicks of non-logged adults in Nuno and Aldina's colonies.

A map of the chicks movements will be uploaded to the BTO's website soon. 

We deployed our usual loggers and trialled some new designs:
Micro Logger:

The new, lighter, Micrologger (left)  next to our usual logger.
                           This was fitted to Lucy (3L+).
                                                                     
Solar panels: Lighter still and longer lasting.
Solar Panels:

 








The solar panel loggers are notably tall so that once the logger settles below the feathers the solar panel still receives sunlight.....
...and so like a little toy car when packed that some doodling was irresistible! 






Aldina's chicks were deemed too small and under weight to carry loggers

 Like preparing to perform a medical operation: Carlos Pacheco getting organised for fitting harnesses.

Bernado (3C+) fitted with his solar panel logger.


With a huge thank you to Carlos Pacheco for helping me fit the loggers.

Tuesday 21 May 2013

*Donate to My Research Project and Name a Logged Chick!!!*



At the beginning of June I will be returning to Portugal to attach GPS/GSM data loggers to chicks in the nests of logged adults and I need your help to decide their names. 

The stork chicks have hatched....

....grown (here about 20-25 days old)....



....and are close to fledging..


 Partly assisted by kind donations from my blog readers I have funds for 8 loggers. These will be attached to the 2 heaviest chicks in 4 nests and I need your help to decide names for them!

Names of 3 chicks have already been decided but:
 the next 5 people to donate to my research through this website will be offered the exciting opportunity to name the last 5 chicks. 

The loggers should last for up to a year and the location of the chicks can be viewed on a live map on the website of the British Trust for Ornithology, just like the adults.

Will the logged chicks winter in Portugal or is the instinct to migrate to Africa stronger? Will they migrate with the logged parent? Where in Africa will they go?
Find out the answer to these and other exciting questions by sponsoring a stork chick!

Loggers cost £100 each, but any amount you can spare would be very welcome! If I raise sufficient funds I will be able to fit more loggers, so donate without delay and name a stork chick! Currently, only the first 5 donors can name chicks, so be the first to donate!

Donate through Paypal by clicking on the 'Support a Stork' link on the top right side of this page.

Clicking on the "Donate" button takes you straight to Paypal so it is speedy and secure.

Update to follow on the progress of fund raising and stork chick naming -and of course photos of the loggers being fitted.

Thank you to all!

Saturday 11 May 2013

Duck Migratory Decisions Also Linked to Warmer European Winter Temperatures

Storks are not the only species whose migratory decisions are impacted by warmer European winter temperatures. Here a link to an article about UK ducks:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22484907

Friday 10 May 2013

Chicks of Logged Birds

Breeding season is well underway. Despite a few days of high winds experienced over most of Portugal, this season seems set to be a good year for breeding storks with no sign of the rain and low temperatures in the crucial first weeks after hatching that caused many nests to fail last year.

The birds do not all breed in synchrony together and so far I have seen chicks ranging from just hatched to 30 days old whilst some adults are still incubating eggs. 

Our logged birds feature along the full length of this spectrum: Ricardo's chicks being oldest and Carlos perhaps still on eggs (or his chicks too young for their heads to appear above the sides of the nest yet). Here are some photos of the logged birds with captions about their progress:
 



LEFT: Brutus regurgitating food for his chicks. The head of one can be seen next to his bill. Brutus appears to have 3 chicks, although his nest is deep so this is not confirmed because his chicks are still small.
ssss ssss ssss ssss ssss ssss ssss sss  

RIGHT: Aldina (left) had 3 eggs and all these have hatched. Her chicks are still young and small which is why they are not visible in this picture.  Her neighbours 4 chicks (right), just visible as white bundles, are about 3 weeks older than Aldinas chicks. Aldina's chicks are the youngest of all the chicks in this colony.


BELOW: A blurry shot of Aldinas 3 10 day old chicks huddled together.




sss ssssssss ss sssss ssss ssss  


RIGHT: The biggest nests are usually occupied by the highest quality breeders. Ricardo has a big nest on a pylon. His chicks are the oldest of all the logged birds. The heads of 2 20-30day old chicks can just be seen above the top of the nest.





















LEFT: Carlos is the only logged bird nesting alone rather than in a colony. His nest is on a tall purpose-built post topped with a nest platform. No heads of chicks have been seen yet, so I think he is still on eggs. Compare the nest size with Ricardo's. Carlos has a much smaller nest.



















RIGHT: Phil has chosen to nest in a beautiful, old Cork Oak tree. His nest is low enough to see in to and has 4 very young chicks under 1 week old.












 






LEFT: Nathalie on a branch above her nest. If you click on the photo to enlarge it and look closely you can just see the logger on her back.
Sadly, Sara's breeding attempt seems to have failed in the last few days. I visited her nest on 5th May and saw no sign of her, her partner or any eggs/chicks. After a day or so without transmitting she suddenly abandoned her breeding site and is now in Spain. 

The reasons behind her breeding failure are unknown. The weather has been good and predation is unlikely because there is always an adult in attendance at the nest. It is possible that late returning migrants out-competed her for her nest however I saw no other adults at her nest. It is possible her partner died or she is a young, inexperienced mum and was not tending her chicks with sufficient care and therefore they did not survive. It is not uncommon for first-time breeders to fail. It is unlikely that she will attempt to breed again this year. Will Sara migrate to Africa now that her breeding season is over? Or will she stay in Iberia?

Keep checking up on the storks movements at the BTO's website to see where Sara goes (follow the link to the BTO stork tracking pages on the front page of my blog).



Thursday 2 May 2013

Storks in the News II

Carlos (3V+) on his nest near Alvito. I suspect he is on eggs as no chicks heads were seen




 Breeding season is well under way here in Portugal. Many storks have chicks, particularly in the north of the country, whilst the chicks are slightly younger in the south and many birds there are still on eggs. (I am still trying to figure out the reason behind this trend for earlier breeding in the north). I will be uploading photos of chicks of various ages just as soon as I have had a chance to sort through them all!

High winds and a sudden drop in temperature for a few days last week have caused havoc in some regions, particularly the Algarve. I was contacted with concern from Portimao where apparently nests have been blown to pieces and chicks left exposed. I shall be back there in a few days to check on the damage for myself. The nests in this area are part of my study and they were doing so well when I visited at the end of April!

The storks are well loved here in Portugal and the plight of the chicks has touched peoples hearts. The Portugal News, Portugal's largest English language newspaper, is running a story and asked for my comments. Portuguese readers look our for that article!

Nest on the Spanish border blown down by recent high winds



Tuesday 23 April 2013

Fieldwork Round 2 –Back in Sunny Portugal

For the past few weeks I have been busy in the lab at UEA doing analysis of stable isotopes of Carbon and Nitrogen from more lesser kestrel and roller feathers (see my blog post Forensic Ecology for more about this). 

I have also been preparing the samples collected last fieldtrip: cleaning the eggshell samples of all organic material and freeze drying the egg contents. The eggs did not smell as bad as I feared when defrosted, although I worked under the fume hood just in case! The freeze drier is a cooled chamber attached to a vacuum pump. Freeze drying removes the water from the samples. As eggs are 90% water this took 6 days.

Right: Anyone fancy a shot? Egg contents samples looking surprisingly pretty in their variety of colours. They actually look rather drinkable, like a refreshing fruit shot -especially as you cant smell them in a photo!
Left: Egg shots in the freeze drier.


Today I landed in Faro, Portugal, to check up on the progress of breeding season and collect more samples. UK readers it is safe to read on. Faro is the same temperature as UK today: sunny, blue skies and 210C! The only difference is that the air here is wonderfully perfumed with the scent of citrus from all the orange groves.

I will visit over 50 colonies gradually work my way north to the beautiful town of Aveiro, then across Portugal and back south along the Spanish border.

Expect frequent updates on the logged birds and other breeding season news over the next few weeks.

Sunday 21 April 2013

How Many Eggs?


ssssssssssssssssssssssss              A view with my camera pole into Aldina's nest.
sssssssssssssssssssssssss (for photos of Aldina on her nest see previous blog post.)



It has been a while since my last post. I have been busy doing ... everything! More about that tomorrow. First of all, some video of eggs in storks nests. The footage is somewhat shaky as the camera is lifted to nest height. How many eggs do they have?


ssssssssssssssssssssssssss           A very large clutch on a wooden telegraph pole in a colony near        ssssssssssssssssssssssssss    Evora landfill. Will all the eggs hatch? Will all the hatchlings fledge?
sssssssssssssssssssssssssss More updates later in the breeding season.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Saturday 30 March 2013

Nesting Logged Birds


Left: Aldina (3Y+) is nesting on a ruin amid cork oak grassland. She is the left hand bird on the nest marked by the arrow.
Right: The logger has settled below Aldina's feathers, only her blue colour rings (just visible in this shot) ID her.

Studying the GPS positions of the logged birds has allowed me to work out where they might be nesting –especially now the birds are spending more time at their nests because the breeding season is getting underway.

Brutus (3W+) head down tidying his nest in a Eucalyptus tree

Part of my fieldwork involves visiting the nests to gather data. It is great to see the logged birds are all doing well and are apparently completely unaffected by their logger back-packs. These quickly sunk down into the feathers, which (most importantly) minimizes drag in flight but also keeps the loggers dry and safe from exposure to the elements. The loggers are not even visible as a hump on the storks backs! Only the blue colour rings on each leg indicate to me which storks are my logged birds.
Excuse the quality of my logged bird photos. They were taken through my telescope and Nuno was photographed in heavy rain. Most of the logged birds are in nests too high to view in to, with the exception of Aldina. She is in a colony of 10 nests had 3 eggs when I visited - and may even lay more eggs. More updates on her progress and hopefully photos of her chicks as the season progresses.







Nuno (37+) hunkered down in heavy rain on his nest 
in a Eucalyptus tree. Although other members of his 
colony have started laying it is likely that Nuno does 
not yet to have eggs because he was not incubating 
them, despite the rain.


Saturday 23 March 2013

An Early Easter Egg Hunt


Another great day in my office!

 

I hear it is predicted to be the coldest March weekend for 50 years and snowing in most of the UK at the moment? 

UK readers skip to the next paragraph immediately…. 

 

 

Wild flowers in an olive grove on the Spanish border
            ….or weep as I describe the blue skies and warm sun in Portugal; how my spring fieldwork is not on landfill sites but mostly consists of wandering in sunny fields bright with spectacular purple, yellow and white drifts of wild flowers. The blossom is out on the fruit trees, swallows skim low over the gently nodding heads of vipers burgloss, lavender, rocket, lupins, dwarf iris and chamomile; and my footsteps through the long grass send butterflies scattering in to the air: Whites, Painted Ladies, Swallowtails and Blues. Did you know that all the UK’s Painted Lady butterflies are migrants? Neither these nor most of the swallows will be arriving in the UK for quite some time yet… 

This is Portugal at its finest, before the hot summer sun browns the meadow grass.  



First prize in my Easter egg hunt: shell plus contents!

Safe to read now...


It is not all paradise though. As well as tracking the logged birds (the subject of my next blog post) I have been visiting stork nests to see how many eggs have been laid, and to collect regurgitated pellets and egg shell -2 Easter egg hunts in one! 

Despite the wild flowers, the meadow directly below a stork’s nest is not a pretty sight –covered in smelly unsavoury poo and debris that I rummage through. Hunting through brambles, wildflowers and stands of tall nettles, eggshell is usually well hidden. Is that speck of white nestled deep against the soil a fragment of eggshell? Usually it is just light reflecting off a eucalyptus leaf, or a poo splatter, litter, a white stone or a bleached snail shell…. The anticipation of the hunt keeps me interested for hours!  

Similarly viewing in to nests to see how many eggs have been laid is like sharing a secret with each stork!



How many eggs have you laid so far...?





Storks usually lay 1-6 eggs but only manage to rear 1-4 chicks. Last year bad weather resulted in very bad breeding success. Keep following my blog to see if this year is a good or bad year for the storks breeding in Portugal.


Im a bit wildflower obsessed after the long UK winter: Rocket, lupins and Cork Oak logs

Sunday 10 March 2013

Field Season Begins!

Like planning a military campaign! Maps of all my colonies
Tomorrow I leave for not-so-sunny Portugal! It has been raining a lot there recently but hopefully this will not make the tiny country tracks too difficult to drive down because I want to visit the colonies of all the logged birds.

As you can see from the picture I have been studying high resolution maps marking the location of stork nests to see if any are likely to correspond to the nests of logged birds. I love maps so having many of them spread out across the table in front of me is right up my street. It feels more like being an explorer or planning a historic sea battle than putting the finishing touches to field work!

Next post from Portugal. I shall be visiting colonies at first and last light to see which nests are occupied and also tracking logged birds. Keep checking the BTOs website and my blog for the latest stork news!

Thanks to all of you who have donated to Support a Stork so far, your funds are hugely appreciated!