Tracking the birds
For the first time documentation of trans-Himalayan migration was undertaken through satellite telemetry by Aligarh Muslim University, Wildlife Institute of India, US Geological survey and Bombay Natural History Society in collaboration with Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Indian Institute of Science and Wild Bird Society of Japan.
The project, sponsored by the ministry of environment and forests and US Fish and Wildlife service, estimated the population of bar-headed geese to be less than 50,000 individuals in the whole world with 17,000 or nearly half of the birds counted in surveys, in India itself. Their winter abundance in Keoladeo National Park (KNP) in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, and ease of capture were the primary reasons apart from their threatened existence that led the scientists to select bar-headed geese for the satellite telemetry studies.
The scientists examined the local distribution and spring migration of two bar-headed geese marked in winter of 1999-2000 at KNP. During winter, the satellite-marked geese primarily roosted in the shallow marshes in the centre of the park and occasionally used surrounding agricultural fields. Although one transmitter ceased functioning in mid-March prior to the spring migration, it was established that the second goose migrated on 24th March, with a brief stopover at the Ganges river near Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh. On March 25, it flew 504 km across the Himalayan mountain ranges to the Lamqog Kanbab River, Tibet. The goose stayed there for eight days before migrating to the west side of Taro Tso, a lake near Lunggar, Tibet. It remained there throughout the breeding season, that is, May to June. The results show that the geese travel over the Himalayas in less than 24 hours, possibly flying along Karnali River Valley before crossing between two 7,000 m peaks.
Apart from documenting spring migration, the study showed potential breeding areas for birds that winter in India and also staging areas. The birds use rivers and wetlands along their migratory route as staging sites before they finally fly over the Himalayas. This has great conservation value as such identified sites can be protected for the conservation of bar-headed geese and many other species that use such sites.
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