The Flight of Bird R03(1999)

Map produced using DMAP software

Bird R03 was the first of the released birds to leave its pen and was one of the most active and strongest fliers in the early days after release. Its mother is S06 which was also satellite-tagged. Its younger half-brother is T04(2000).

After moving to Cornwall, R03 stayed in the Baie de Bourgneuf area for 1 month. It was sighted and its ring number read at Ile de Noirmoutier in the Bay de Bourgneuf on 7/9/99. Click for details. It certainly moved around the area with daily locations up to 50 km apart, for example on 29/9 it moved about 30km inland and was a similar distance out over the Atlantic on 1/10.

The position on 5/10, out to sea, seems to have been the start of an onward migratory flight. The location plotted on 6/10 indicates a movement of 873km in 28 hours.

After a short stopover on the coast south of Lisbon, he flew another 432km on 13th to reach Africa. Since then, R03's apparent preference for coastal fishing seems to have been abandoned. On 17th he crossed the Atlas Mts where they are over 3000m high. The flight SE into Algeria and then across Mali and eastern Mauritania has taken R03 into some of the most desolate parts of the Sahara.

On 26/10, R03 entered the region of Mali known as the Sahel and reached the headwaters of the River Niger. We received locations every 11 days or so throughout the winter and spring but always from exactly the same spot. No further movements were recorded and eventually the radio transmitter produced no useful data.