2020 satellite tracking off to a good start
January 13, 2020
Between January 7 and 10, the Canberra team plus their visitors from Japan including staff from the Wild Bird Society of Japan, braved the hot smoky conditions to make another attempt at snipe catching for deploying satellite transmitters. This follows an unsuccessful attempt at the start of December (2019), where a single bird was deemed large enough for a transmitter from a total catch of 3 birds over 2 days. Unfortunately, that bird had an issue during the holding and monitoring period and was released without a transmitter. So the team commenced the process again on January 7 of building the indoor wetland and undertaking 3 exhausting days of catching.
Building the indoor wetland proved a little more challenging this time as Kelly’s swamp, where we usually catch the birds, was dry! However, digging down into the dry mud revealed damp layers underneath so with a little water this was suitable to use in the holding tent.
We also assumed the dryness would mean no snipe around, but a recce done by Birgita and Lori on the Tuesday turned up a dozen birds roosting among the remnants of the reed beds. It was so dry that we were able to set up nets with sneakers and hiking boots on. What a pleasure not to have to put on the waders!
The first catch was made on Wednesday morning and three birds were caught. This was considered pretty successful, especially when we found out once we started processing that two of the birds were big enough for satellite tags. So Birgita and Heather spent the painstaking time fitting the harnesses to the 2 birds, then they were placed in the tent and monitored until Thursday morning. We took turns to monitor over that 24 hours, with poor, tired Lori doing the graveyard shift between 11pm and 4am. The birds seemed to settle down reasonably well and both were observed drinking and preening.
On Wednesday night, while Mieko monitored the birds, the team headed out to the paleo channels on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin to set up nets in a new location where about 10 snipe had been seen. However, an attempt to walk into the mud by Birgita clearly demonstrated that no catching was going to happen there – the mud was like quicksand. So after much discussion, we decided to risk another attempt in the same location as the previous night in Kellys swamp. Birgita was adament it wouldn’t work and was proven completely wrong when another successful catch was made on thursday morning, in exactly the same spot as Wednesday morning! Four birds this time and two were big enough for transmitters! Everyone was very excited despite being quite exhausted. Heather and Birgita again fitted transmitters to the 2 new birds. They also retrieved the 2 birds from the day before, checked and re-fitted harnesses, and let them go.
The holding period and 24 hour monitoring demonstrated its value when one of the snipe had problems with its harness. Birgita retrieved the bird and found it had caught its bill in its harness. The harness was removed and the bird immediately released. This matches what Dutch researchers in the Global Flyway Network have found in their research on captive red knots – birds that are likely to have trouble with their harnesses will do so in the first 24 hours.
Our last bird was checked, harness re-fitted and released on friday morning. The first data transmissions started coming through from Saturday onwards. The latest track data is in the image below.
Birgita and Lori would like to thank all the volunteers that dedicated time and energy to catching and monitoring the snipe. It was a fantastic and ultimately successful collective effort. And many thanks to Nakamura-san, Usui-san and the whole Japanese team for helping with catching and being great fun.