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Follow the Bird!

About the project

Key wetlands

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Birds We Follow

About flyways

Welcome to Follow the Bird!

The Follow the Bird! project demonstrates the vital importance of networks of good quality wetlands along a flyway that migratory birds use on their annual cycle and the close link of the importance of these wetlands to the livelihoods of people living at these sites.

Our ambassadors are migratory birds equipped with satellite transmitters that fly between Europe and Africa and stop at a number of important wetlands along a major waterbird flyway. Currently, the intercontinental migration of five Purple Herons can be followed on our website. To learn more, go to the Birds We Follow section and click on Purple Heron to view the current locations of each individual we follow. Here you can also access additional information on these individuals and links to some of the Key wetland sites they have visited.

On the page Get Involved you can get involved and contribute to this project by uploading photos, additional information on wetlands and other stop-over sites where the Purple Herons are using in their migratory journeys.

Where are our Purple Herons now? Last update 5 January 2010

Key

Purple icons: birds on their southward migration or present locations

Red icons: birds who have sent signals recently

Yellow icons: birds with recently lost signal

White icons: birds who have not sent signals for a long time

What is new? Updated 5 January 2010

News: Firstly, a happy new year! In 2009, five herons were followed during their southward migration and we hope that all will return north during 2010.

There have been no further movements detected of Karen or Mustapha during the end of December or the first week of January 2010. Karen was last known to be near Conakry and Mustapha near Baoma. There have been no further fixes from Rudi, this was a similar situation to that of the 2008/2009 'winter', when no signals were received between the end of December and March. We hope that we will receive a signal in the coming months so that we can identify his location.

December 2009: Both Karen and Mustapha remain settled in their respective 'wintering' areas throughout the month. For the third 'winter' running Karen has chosen to stay near to Conakry in Guinea. Meanwhile, Mustapha is back near Baoma in Sierra Leone for the second consecutive 'winter'. In November Rudi was known to be along the Senegal River, close to where he was last winter. Unfortunately, we received no signals from him throughout December, this was a similar situation to last year. There were no further fixes from Lena in December.

November 2009: Heron Karen returned to her traditional northern wintering site in Guinea and remained there throughout November. This rice field area close to Conakry, is the same site she used the previous two northern winters. Mustapha remained in the wetlands close to Baoma in Sierra Leone for the entire month. Rudi has made a short move along the Senegal River back to the same area where he spent last northern winter. This is part of the Senegal River close to Dagana where Rudi was known to be between early October and the end of December before we lost contact with him until his northward migration in March. We hope that this year we will be able to follow him throughout the northern winter period in Africa. So far we know that he remains here into the fouth week of November.

For more news, go to the News archive.

Further information about the specific habitats used by Purple Herons can be gathered through photographs. We have received the following photograph from Ger van Creij of a Purple Heron in Takoradi in Ghana in October 2007, showing the type of habitat that the herons are using.

Adult Purple Heron at Takoradi (Ghana) on 15 October 2007 (Ger van Creij)

Follow the Bird Project

Migratory birds equipped with satellite-transmitters can be followed online. Implemented by Wetlands International with support from the Shell Partnership.