In July, Andreas Barkow and Ulf Bauchinger from the Lower Saxony LIFE Godwit Flyway team were able to observe the tagged Black-tailed Godwit ‘Werner’ in his breeding area at the Lower Elbe. Together with Lapwings, Ruffs and a few water birds, ‘Werner’ was mainly observed foraging and engaging in comfort behaviours, such as preening and sleeping. There was no doubt that ‘Werner’ was gathering strength and energy after the breeding season for the return flight to his wintering grounds (see this blog entry for further details on his successfull breeding season).
On 26 July, the time had come: in the early evening, ‘Werner’ took off from the Lower Elbe in a southwestern direction. Twenty-four hours later, he landed south of La Rochelle in the marshlands of Brouage in France and remained there until 3 August. Apparently, ‘Werner’ needed to ‘refuel’ again.
The following day, Werner reached the Tagus in Portugal. Following the course of the river, he flew over the project areas of Companhia das Lezírias and stayed near Alcochete for two days. Werner had now visited all the ‘stepping stones’ in the Godwit Flyway LIFE project.
After another stopover of about a week in Doñana, Spain, ‘Werner’ followed the coastline of Morocco, flew through Western Sahara and Mauritania, and finally reached the important wintering area in northern Senegal. Here, south of the Senegal River, there are rice fields in a former floodplain. Werner has been here since mid-August. He is in the best company of many other tagged Black-tailed Godwits. No other wintering area currently seems as popular as the Djoudj National Park in Senegal.
