Earlier this year permission to catch pallid harriers for this project was granted by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests. On the 16th March 2008, we fitted our first pallid harrier wintering in India with a satellite tag in the Velavadar National Park roost, Gujarat.
After capture, this first-year male spent about 2 weeks in a nearby agricultural area. On the 31th of March, it started migrating NW and travelled 590 km in two days, along the Indian-Pakistan border. It reached the Pakistan-Afghanistan border after 8 days, including a 3-day stopover just prior to crossing a mountain range with peaks up to 2000 m in central Pakistan. The map below shows the movement until early May 2007, and shows this bird to be moving toward the breeding area of another pallid harrier that wintered in Sudan (Click here to see that bird's movements).
We plan to catch more birds in early winter 2008-2009 in order to track possible winter movements across India and identify their breeding grounds. Click here to see what we are doing on the Pallid harrier's breeding grounds! And click here to see a more detail about our work in India. Visit this page again because we will be updating the map!
|
 |
Click on logo to visit web site |
Map copyright: Natural Research Ltd, F. Mougeot. Photo: T. Cornulier
|
