LIFE Godwit Flyway protects Black-tailed Godwits through habitat optimisation in the breeding area and also in the staging and wintering areas. To be successful, many different measures need to be applied. The use of satellite or GPS transmitters mounted as small backpacks is an important tool to find and locate the birds during migration and overwintering. This helps to determine important areas for Godwit conservation in Europe and West Africa.
In May, the project team from HABITRACK, a consortium of European scientists with the goal to provide novel understanding on rare but huntable species, came to visit the Godwit Flyway team. According to initial contacts, a longer-term collaboration was envisaged. The visitors from France brought with them lightweight GPS tags, one of which was attached on an adult female Black-tailed Godwit. This bird is a resident breeding bird at the Lower Elbe Special Protection Area. Now we hope that a detailed understanding of the whereabouts of this bird will allow us to tailor specific conservation measures along the flyway or within its wintering area.
This meeting and the support and exchange between scientists of the HABITRACK and Godwit Flyway project symbolise the need for cooperation across different countries, in order to advance conservation of grassland breeding birds that do not know country borders. Our cooperation with the HABITRACK consortium entails movement of Black-tailed Godwits, Redshanks and Common Snipes tagged on either the Lower Elbe or the Dümmer Special Protection Areas.
