The Black-tailed Godwit ‘Werner’ is back in his breeding habitat at the Lower Elbe. After nine months of travelling and a flight distance of about 10,000 km, the wader has returned to the place where he was ringed by the staff of the NLWKN Nature Conservation Station the year before. ‘Werner’ arrived back on 24 March and we can retrace his journey because the bird has also been equipped with a GPS transmitter.
‘Werner’ has chosen a ‘typical’ route. In June 2024, the bird travelled from Germany via the Netherlands and Belgium through France, across the Bay of Biscay, to Spain. He replenished his resources in the Doñana region during a 10-day stopover, before he headed for his wintering grounds in Senegal. The bird also visited the Bao Bolong Wetland Reserve in The Gambia for three months.
The transmitter data do not suggest any spectacular or critical events – luckily. And yet a great deal of interesting information can be gathered from his travels. The ringing and tagging of meadow birds is part of the success monitoring of the LIFE projects ‘GrassBirdHabitats’ and ‘Godwit Flyway’, which the Lower Saxony State Agency for Bird Conservation at the NLWKN is carrying out since 2020.
