Satellite tagged Honey buzzard returning to UK.
19/05/2009 11:13:42
Honey buzzard being tagged with a satellite transmieetr in Wales. Credit Ecology Matters.
Welsh Honey buzzard tagging project Two honey buzzards from breeding pairs in Wales were tagged with satellite trackers by Ecology Matters in 2008. They were tracked to their wintering grounds in Africa from where sporadic signals have been received over the winter. They wintered in dense jungle so the solar powered tags did not provide regular contacts over the winter.
On the evening of 6th May the female buzzard - Kim - had reached the southern edge of the Sahara Desert on her northward migration back to Wales after completing a journey of over 400kms during the day. By Monday morning - 18th May - the bird had crossed the Pyrenees and is started to head up through France. She waited for a day to cross the Straits of Gibraltar, but then crossed Spain in just three days.
This is the first time a British Honey Buzzard has been satellite tracked on its northward migration and so far there are no great surprises as she is broadly retracing last autumn's southward journey.
The male Honey buzzard has not reported in for some time, and it is thought that either the tag has stopped working or, more likely, that he has not survived the winter. He should be well on his way home now so it cannot simply be that he keeping his tag in the shade in some Guinean rainforest.
Further updates will be posted the website, where details of the whole project and maps of the autumn migration are available. http://www.ecologymatters.co.uk/news/
honey buzzard factsHoney Buzzards are forest dwellers. They are highly secretive, moving between trees and rarely being seen within the wood. They require large woods or forests and are usually found in areas where there is a high proportion of forest cover.
Honey Buzzards are unlike other large raptors in that they specialise in eating insects, with wasp larvae making up a large part of their diet. They have adaptations that protect them from stings and help them deal with their prey. Their legs and feet are heavily scaled and the feathers around the bill are dense and scale like. The bill is long and curved with an extended point suitable for holding insects, and their nostrils are reduced to long slits that are less likely to become blocked with soil as they dig for wasp nests. They are not entirely dependent on insects; frogs are also important and young fledgling birds are sometimes taken as alternative prey. | Honey Buzzards nest in woods. They build nests made of twigs and lined with fresh leaves. The average number of eggs laid is two (range one-three), and incubation is shared by both parents. Both adults forage and feed the chicks, and after fledging, the young continue to be fed by the adults for about a month, although one parent may leave before the young have flown.
Honey Buzzards migrate from their breeding grounds in Europe and Asia to sub-saharan Africa and southern Asia where they find adequate food supplies during the winter months. Large, and occasionally, spectacular numbers can be seen during their migration where their routes converge at narrow sea crossings such as at the Straights of Gibraltar, the Straits of Messina, the Bosphorus and at Falsterbo in southern Sweden. Little is known of the migration of the small British population with only a few birds having been ringed.. |
Migration map of Honey Buzzards route to and from Africa from Wales
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