Tattlers start heading south

It has been about 9 weeks since our satellite tagged Tattlers arrived the breeding ground, happy to see that they are now on their way back south!

Two of our Tattlers have successfully bred in Siberia. They were using different breeding area more than 1,500km apart, while LDU bred in Krasnoyarsk Krai and LBU bred in Sakha Republic, not too far from Whimbrel KU’s breeding location.

LDU arrived breeding ground on 9-Jun. Two locations 20-30km south-east of its nest were explored in the first 2 weeks. Two weeks later since 23-Jun it had finally settled down at its nesting location. Since then it has hardly move more than 2km away from its nest.

Satellite signal from 2-Aug show that LDU has departed from its nesting location. More accurate signals are to be received in the coming few days to confirm it has started southward migration.

The other Tattler LBU is relatively more efficient in finding a nesting location. Only after a week since arrival, it has determined to nest at a river valley in the north of the Verkhoyansk Range and utilise two other locations 12km west and 10km south possibly as foraging sites away from its nest.

After 6 weeks breeding time, LBU departed breeding location on 30-Jul and flew 1,400km south to reach a stop-over area in Sakha just north of the Stanovoy Range.

Unfortunately, our 2 other Tattler’s transmission have ceased in early and mid-Jun after they reached Russia. It could not be determined whether this is due to breakdown of the tag or the death of the bird.