30.04 Idylliic Trøndelag - another day in the office

Trøndelag is changing from day to day. Many fields are already ploughed (and manured:) and first grain has already been sown. Geese are still seen feeding on stubble but more and more move to new sown fields. Surprisingly, many geese can be observed on wasted potato fields.

Geese feeding on potato fields

Geese feeding on stubble

At the beginning of the season, geese were observed mainly in smaller flocks, up to few hundreds. Now, several thousands geese can be observed squeezed into one field. Also huge groups can be seen at the roost sites. We drove to Namsos yesterday to look at the habitat visited by Ingunn. We could not find him but if you look at the size of the roosting flock, you may not be surprise why. It was like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

Where is Ingunn?

Only four out of 8 transmitters work properly and this is not a good news. I lost hope that R33 can ever transmit again and we have no idea what happened to this goose. Luckily, R53 is doing well.

And finally, an ecological question, what is it?:

24.04 Welcome R37

R37 finally made it to Trøndelag. Or almost because he stopped around Trondheim airport. I would again say this is weird but there are some flocks being observed in this area so he is not alone. Good news:)

22.04 Following green wave

Many geese are already here in Trøndelag. I am looking at the roost site at Risan, where around 1000 geese came back from the fields for midday rest and nap. 7 our geese are here in Trøndelag (Ingunn, Christiane, Danuta, Lukasz, R62, R37 and R84) and they are spreading all over the area.

Ingunn flew yesterday to Namsos area, the north western part of Trøndelag. This is exactly the same spot as he was last year. I am going to drive there late this week to see what kind of habitat is he feeding on and who is he dating now. Geese are known for their site fidelity and similar results we can obtain from ring reading. But this is not a rule and some geese are seen exploring new areas where they have not been previously observed. Below comparison between this (white) and last year (red) positions of Ingunn:

Christiane's tag does not work very well and we get very few signals. But he is here. Unfortunately, R33 also does nor show any signs. We don't know where he is and the last uplink we received 13th of April when he was on his way to Trøndelag.
R53 is still in the middle of nowhere, in central Norway. Some geese were previously seen at this lake, but this is very unusual that geese stay there for so long (he is there already for a week). There is nothing to eat there so we are getting worried. We really hope this is not the effect of transmitter which forced him to stay there and we hope he can soon make it here. Anyone happy to go there and check what is going on?

As I mentioned, R37 is also here and we only know it because Jannik spotted him recently. His transmitter gave us the last signal 16th of April so finger crossed for more info ASAP.

And now some family stories: R58 was seen paired to R40, both in good conditions. Same goes for Lukasz and R62, both have girlfriends and look happy and healthy. This is very good news, cause this is the first time Lukasz has been seen since last spring. R37 was also seen paired here as also confirmed by his last observation in Denmark. OK, time to go back to the fields and look at more geese.

17.04 Unexpected meeting

Danuta and Lukasz left Denmark and arrived to Trøndelag at different time. They stopped at the same roost near Verdal but not at the same time. 13th of April (Friday:) at 16:00 they decided to meet up at exactly the same field. What a coincidence. On the other hand they were caught last year at the same spot in DK, so they probably belong to the same flock. Flocks do not seem to be together all the time but maybe they 'reform' from time to time.

The meeting place:

16.04 News from the hot spot

I am sitting in the middle of the eye of the storm. The geese storm:) Trøndelag is partly covered by snow but geese do not seem to bother. Almost half of the population is already here (as estimated by Per Ivar:). The landscape looks very different than last year. Many fields have been ploughed recently or at the end of last season and fields which were pasture last year are now 'black'. Me and Jannik read some neckbands and found some Rs -  geese neck banded this year so they are doing well. 4 of our tagged geese are on their way to Trøndelag. And other 4 are already here (Ingunn, Lukasz, R62, Danuta). Some took a rest at Tyrifjorden (Ingunn, R62, R58,R37) and Mjøsa (R33) around Oslo. I will do my best to update you with newest positions and pictures as often as possible but I am very busy doing my fieldwork so any apology for delay.

11.04 Danuta heading North

The weather is not very springy. Very few if any positions from other geese. Hopefully we get more update when the sun comes back. In the meanwhile, Danuta is heading North. I just got picture from last week from Ole Jørstad from Trøndelag. If I was Danuta, I would think twice whether to leave Denmark:)

'Spring' in Trøndelag

The adventure of Danuta

9.04 No Easter break

Geese have no time for faffing around and having Easter break. It is time to fly north soon for those who have not done it yet. Flying north requires a lot of energy and geese have to feed intensively to be able to get to Trøndelag.  Lukasz is already there. Last year, he arrived to mid Norway a week from now. Earlier onset of spring (probably due to climate change) changed geese habit and flocks of pinkies are seen earlier and earlier in Trøndelag every year. The timing of migration is dependent on many factors but since geese migrate in flocks, Lukasz must have followed his flock.

Danuta and Ingunn are now foraging at the northern bank of Limfjorden. Last year, both geese showed very similar 'pattern'. Prior to departure, they moved from Ringøbing area to the northern site of Limfjorden, however not exactly to the same place as this year.

Danuta and Lukasz - the newest positions

Danuta now and last year (grey dots to the right)

Ingunn now and last year (smaller dots to the left)

As I mentioned in the last post, our 'new' geese  transmit now many more positions per day. R62 and R53 are also foraging at the northern site of Limfjorden. Especially R53 seems to forage within small area. He does not go to roost and spend entire 24h on the fields. Below are positions from last two days:

We do not have good connection with R37 and R33 - no new positions since 5 days. Ole Amstrup, the goose observer, just saw R37 last Friday around Vest Stadil Fjord (the area where we caught the geese), where we have the last position from. The goose still has the tag on so hopefully this is just temporary problem. Finger crossed.

5.04 One swallow does not make a summer... but two geese do make spring

A huge re-organisation at the spring battle field. Christiane and Lukasz are on their way north already. This is a bit earlier than last year but still within 'geese' limits. The winter was very mild this year (especially at the beginning) and spring came relatively early so I assume this is a good time to leave. Few hundred pinkies are already observed in Trøndelag so these two geese are not the only one heading north.
R62 and R53 have also moved north but are still in Denmark. Now they are close to the nature reserve where other pinkies are also observed. Note that R62 followed the coast to get to Thisted area and made several stop on his way.

The rest of our geese are still around Ringkøbing and Stadil fjord. The transmitters of birds tagged this year are now set to transmit three positions per day (at 7:00, 11:00 and 15:00) and it seems like birds spend the entire daytime on fields, building up energy for the coming journey. On the other hand, birds from last year, are suppose to send us signal every hour. We can than capture their diurnal rhythm and as seen in case of Danuta and Ingunn, they come back to the roost during the night and forage in the fields under day light. Roost is a much safer place to rest during night cause predators (like foxes or raccoon dogs) cannot enter the roost. 

Tomorrow all new tags are switching protocols from sending us 3 positions per day to sending us one position per hour. Hopefully we can get more details about their journey.

Happy Easter to all of you and see you next week.

2.04 Freedom

James Williams decided to dedicate his Sunday afternoon to make a short movie about the final geese release. Now you can all see what it looked like. Enjoy!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHE1butIluY&feature=g-upl&context=G2396e1aAUAAAAAAAAAA

2.04 Rescue team success

Yesterday John Frikke and his girlfriend went out and found the lost tag of Caroline at once! As Jesper wrote: 'Extremely lucky because the tag was lying in a maize stubble field and the farmer had started plouging the field today but had stopped 10 meters away from the tag position.

The tag is in good shape and the straps are intact but loose.'

Additionally this goose was spotted yesterday in northern Julland so we know is alive and doing well.

Good job guys and thank you!!!!

01.04 What's new in Rs

Our new birds are sending signal as we expect them to do. All are spread now around catching area. This means that all the tags are still on birds. We are running out of colours and it was hard to choose so we can distinguish between all 10 tagged birds. My apology for all colour blinds:) So R33 is brown, R37-orange, R53-dark green, R58-maroon and R62-yellow.

27.03 Five new members of the family.

During goose catch we chose 5 adult, big males to deploy 5 new satellite tags. We chose males as usual cause males are bigger than females and we believe that therefore may better tolerate the transmitters. This year we chose North Star as the company providing the devices. Each tag weights approximately 60g including the harness. This is 10g less that last year. We hope that such weight won't have a pronounce effect on a 3kg male. Each tag is attached to a goose by knicker elastic harness so the harness can 'adjust' when geese are gaining and loosing weight during the migration.
For the moment, all tags are set to send us 3 positions per day but once geese arrive to Trøndelag, we should receive one position per hour from each individual. The tags, as last year, are equipped with solar batteries.
This year we also decided not to name our birds, cause the number of suggestions is much bigger than 5:). So let's keep it simple and stick to neckbands' codes. Hopefully it will help you remember the codes and inform us every time you spot one of our geese. The new members of the family are: R33, R37, R53, R58 and R62. Welcome and stay in touch!!!

26-27.03 The goose catch

Last week we went back as every year to western Julland to ring and mark pink-footed and barnacle geese.   Since many years, the goose catch takes place north from Vest Stadil Fjord. Recently, fast growing population of barnacle geese seems to 'invade' the areas along the coast and when we arrived, the area was almost entirely black and white. We were a bit concerned whether we will be able to catch some pinkies. We set up the canon net the day before and the next day we caught 39 pinkies and 156 barnies. This is much less than we expected but I think we were still very lucky to catch some individuals among huge flock of barnies. All pinkies got white neckbands, all starting on 'R'. Based on the regular readings surveys from all stopover sites, we will be able to say more about their migration and life. Below few pictures from the catch and if time allows, we will soon post a movie from this event.

Camouflaged net

                                                       Setting up the net the day before

Geese waiting for their turns in the tents

                                           

1.04 The grass in greener

Wow, all our five geese from last year are sending us signals. We got first position from Caroline since couple of months. Unfortunately, it looks like his tag is always in one place. We are sending rescue team to figure out what is wrong. Lukasz, Ingunn and Danuta are still between Nissum and Ringkøbing fjord. The farm areas along the coast are almost entirely taken by barnacles geese and last week I could observe flocks up to 8000 barnies. Pink-footed geese are more difficult to spot and it seems like larger flocks prefer areas around Ringkøbing fjord. Smaller flocks can also be spotted around Vest and Stadil fjord but usually far away from the roads. Surprisingly, flocks I have seen, fed almost exclusively on stubble fields and leftover grain and not on green and juicy grass which is already present. We also have first reports of pink-footed geese from Trøndelag. Could be that our geese are soon ready to leave.
Western Julland is also full of migrating birds. Huge flocks of starlings and golden plovers can be seen over the fields. Lapwings and yellowhammers can be heard from long distance and fjords are full of waterfowls. We also heard first bitterns this spring and the moor frogs already in their beautiful blue breeding appearance.