In March, Hela was one of two individuals tagged with a small, solar-powered satellite tracker through BirdLife South Africa's European Brown Roller Monitoring Project. (Birdlife SA)
I covered over 10,000km in just 2 months. This is the astonishing distance that the European brown-breasted roller Hera, tagged by BirdLife South Africa, flew to reach its breeding grounds in Uzbekistan.
The perilous journey of this African Palearctic migrant is helping bird conservation groups uncover the wonders of this colorful summer visitor migration to South Africa.
In March, Hera was one of two individuals to be fitted with a small, solar-powered satellite tracking device through BirdLife South Africa's European Brown Roller Surveillance Project. This project works to expand our understanding of the migratory routes of the Northern Roller. The bird's body ring also had a unique color.
Data collected from satellite tags allows researchers such as Flyway and Immigration Project Manager Jessica Willmott to map the birds' complete migration cycles. This helps identify potential threats in critical habitats and along flight paths.
Hera, meaning goddess of the sky, is a fitting name for the bird, and Wilmot said the technology weighed just 1.59g when installed by the project's provider.
“She traveled along the east coast of Africa. She entered Mozambique from the island of Limpopo, then stuck to the coast until reaching Somalia, where she spent about a month and slowly made her way to the Horn of Africa. Once there, she crossed the Arabian Sea, crossed the ocean again to the coast of Pakistan, traveled to Afghanistan, stayed there for about a week, and then traveled to Uzbekistan.
According to BirdLife South Africa, the paddlefish migration along the East African-Eurasian Flyway is not only a demonstration of “amazing endurance” but also an ongoing effort to protect migratory birds and their fragile ecosystems. It is said that it is also a symbol.
“Hera is really pioneering the routes he's flying because we didn't know about them,” Wilmot said. “And generally, migratory birds use different flight paths depending on where they breed, but there has never been a recorded route in which birds have traveled within this flight path. It's very exciting…and a first for South Africa. That's what I mean.
World Migratory Bird Day was observed on Saturday with the theme “Save insects, save birds.''
BirdLife SA said the paddlefish's extraordinary journey “highlights the interconnectedness of species and ecosystems.”
According to the report, insects are an important food source for many migratory birds, including the paddle-breasted roller.
“As insect populations decline due to habitat destruction, pesticide use and climate change, birds face greater challenges in completing their long migrations. The Helmet's Journey Just Survives It is a story of resilience, hope, and the amazing natural processes that sustain life across borders.”
The satellite tag weighs only 3.2 g, ensuring that research does not interfere with bird migration or mating success.
“We don't want to affect their fitness to go to breeding grounds and come back, because that's counterintuitive to the research we're trying to do,” Wilmot pointed out.
Despite being classified as Least Concern globally, the European Plains Roller is locally listed as Near Threatened, with populations declining since the 1970s and There are records of local and national extinctions.
One of the main objectives of this project is to better understand the movement of the European brown-breasted roller and to identify the main stopover sites used by the brown-browed roller within its wintering grounds. This can be used to secure additional critical habitat for this species and understand some of the threats it faces in that location.
BirdLife South Africa says South Africa has been identified as a key country on the migration route. Much of the research and conservation work on the European brown roller has traditionally focused on its breeding grounds in Europe.
“Expanding monitoring and tracking efforts into southern Africa will improve our understanding of their wintering behavior and potential threats, thereby ensuring that our conservation efforts include all of their life stages. It will be.
“Given that Hera was in Somalia for a month, we can assume that the location was of great importance for at least a month,” Willmott added. “We need to have her complete the transition at least twice to ensure that this is the route she flies every year and these are the sites she relies on.”
Understanding which locations are important is important for organizations involved in bird conservation. If you don't understand that, “you don't really know where to put your resources and which stakeholders to work with.”
Hela is currently in India and researchers said they were looking forward to seeing how she would return to South Africa in the coming weeks.
“The last point is [GPS location] What we saw was on the coast of India on July 29th…and we saw a feather on the solar panel, which may not be charging properly…we saw her… Once they start migrating, the wings will move and charge enough to earn more points. ”
Tagging birds involves many risks. For Wilmot, deploying tags and then waiting for updates is “horrifying.” “And then it doesn't come and you think, 'Oh, the tag failed or the bird got predated?'” You're really thinking about the individual. ”
The same was true for Royal Eagle, another European brown-breasted roller with a spatula tag. The name Royal Eagle comes from the Shangaan word for the color blue. “When we got to the Horn of Africa, we lost contact. We haven’t gotten anything since then, so I think either the bird was predated or the tag failed…. It’s a risk we’ll probably have to deal with again.”
Statistically, the project will need to deploy more satellite tags to prove that Hera's route is the migration route of the European brown roller. The company plans to introduce five more machines in February.
This technology isn't cheap. Imported from New Zealand, the satellite tag alone costs R53,000 and the satellite data fee for two years is R33,000. Fundraising is ongoing, Willmott added.
“We're using Hera as an ambassador. Imagine what else we can do and what more we can do as we introduce more tags.”
