BUSTARDS
Text
by Theri Bailey and Dr. Fred Launay
Pictures by O.Combreau and Fred Launay
Peoplehave always speculated where the Asian houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata
macqueenii) , the favoured prey of Arab falconers, migrates from to reach
the Arabian peninsula each winter. From mere curiosity and speculation,
the need to piece together a more comprehensive picture of the houbara
bustards’ movements has become essential due to the continued decline in
the houbara’s numbers. This decline is believed to be as a result of destruction
of their wintering and breeding habitat, over trapping and over hunting.
Now, pioneering work by researchers from the Abu Dhabi based, National
Avian Research Center (NARC), has begun to unravel the mystery of the this
species’ migration routes. Using sophisticated satellite tracking techniques,
NARC has ensured that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the first country
in the world to have tracked houbara bustard, both on their northerly and
southerly migrations. Their results are being put to good use for conservation.
The story unfolded on the 28th of February 1995
when a fine, male houbara bustard, weighing 1500g, was caught in the UAE.
As houbara are notoriously difficult to trap on their wintering grounds,
because they are few in number and not breeding, a falcon was specially
prepared to catch the houbara. Its talons had plastic beads glued so their
points and its beak was trimmed to prevent injury to the houbara when it
was caught in the air. Once captured, a tiny satellite transmitter, weighing
only 34g (of which only 3.5g of the weight was electronics and the rest
a high rate lithium battery) was fitted onto its back. Looking at the transmitter
it was difficult to imagine that this little device would really be light
enough to be carried easily by a flying houbara for a couple of thousand
kilometre and also powerful enough to send a signal to three satellites
orbiting 1000kms from the surface of the earth which would relay the houbara’s
position, to within 5km of the true point, to a data processing computer
in France. In addition, the manufacturers promised that the transmitter
could be programmed to turn themselves on and off to conserve battery life
and would relay the activity of the bird, the battery voltage and the ambient
temperature. After only 40 minutes capture the researchers released the
male houbara and hurried back to the comfort of their air-conditioned research
station where they dialled into a modem link from Abu Dhabi to the data
processing computer in France, and began to down load data on the progress
of the houbara.
Observing the bird’s progress electronically,
the researchers were excited to see that after a few days apparently resting
and feeding in a relatively small area of Abu Dhabi, the houbara took flight
one night. They watched their computer screens as information on the bird’s
flight was continually updated. The bird traveled initially along the coast
of the UAE and Oman and then across the Straits of Hormuz and into Iran
where it stopped over for approximately three weeks. Just as the NARC researchers
were beginning to think that the male would remain in Iran for the breeding
season, the bird once more took off to fly to the border region of Turkmenistan,
Kazakhstan and Uzbekhistan. Signals were received from this position until
the battery life ended. By the end of this migratory journey, the male
houbara had flown an impressive 2, 765 kilometres.
This
study led to an international agreement between the UAE and Kazakhstan
which allowed NARC researchers to travel to Kazakhstan in the springs of
both 1995 and 1996 during the houbara breeding season. Collaborating with
researchers from the Institute of Zoology, in Almaty, the teams was able
to capture nine houbara in the east of the country and five in the west.
Information received in 1995 and 1996 for all
14 satellite tagged houbara , indicated that they remained in Kazakhstan
until the month of September at which point they started migrating south.
What became clear from the data analysed in both years was that the houbara
from the east and the houbara from the west of Kazakhstan take different
migration routes and therefore end up on different wintering grounds. Before
the battery life expired, fixtures for the eastern birds showed that four
had moved into Afghanistan and one into Iran. Of the western houbara, three
migrated to Iraq and one to western Iran. The short battery life of the
transmitter is a disappointment to the NARC researchers and it is hoped
that soon a battery will be developed to last for many months, preferably
a year, so that researchers can track the same houbara both to and from
their breeding grounds, before retrieving the transmitters.
There is still a great deal to learn and many
mysteries to unravel concerning migrations of the houbara bustard. National
Avian Research Center’s researchers look forward to another year of satellite
tagging houbara and observing, via data displayed on their computer screens,
both northerly and southerly migration pathways. Results of this new mapping
programme are certain to influence conservation measures for the Asian
houbara bustard, helping to pinpoint breeding grounds, wintering grounds
and stop-off points so that they can be effectively managed and protected.
This technology based research brings hope that the words of the UAE President,
H.H. Sheikh Zayed, quoted at the beginning of this article, will hold true
in the future, as they have in the past.