Tuesday 18 November 2014

Look out for tagged Great White Pelicans

The Great White Pelicans that visit us each year arrive from Eastern Europe and Turkey, with the biggest Palearctic population breeding in the Danube Delta of Romania. However, there has been a decline in numbers in recent years and Ron Efrat is studying them to find out more about their movements and general biology. Ron has wing tagged a number of birds and put satellite transmitters on some others. The satellite transmitters shows that some have already come to Sudan and this will give him valuable data on where they visit and on how long they stay in each place.

Tagged Great White Pelican

The majority of his birds have wing tags, as shown in the picture, and these can only be tracked by observers in the field. If anyone gets a chance to view any Great White Pelicans, please check them for tags and send me the details so that I can pass them on to Ron. Any additional information, such as flock size, habitat, etc, would be very useful. It will be great to find out more about the birds that visit us here in Sudan and to help improve our knowledge of this declining species.