Following Karls' Families

[Treia]

What a great and handsome flight from Udu !!!

Is s/he now near that Farafra's White desert national park?
From there it is no longer a very long trip to the city of Farafra,
and then to the right stork-routes.

Good luck on your trip Udu !!!

[Anne7]

.
Hello everyone

Fingers crossed for all our BS!
Pikne is possibly flying over the Eastern Desert to Eritrea or Ethiopia and out of GSM coverage.

Hellem, thank you for the birdmap data!

.
BIRDMAP OVERVIEW OCTOBER 27

KARL II
• Previous data: 21.10.2021, distance 4856 km, +119 km in 1 day. Karl II flew southwards along the Jordan River valley but returned to Tirat Zvi, Israel
• NEW data : 27.10.2021, distance 6464 km, +1608 km in 5 days + morning 27.10, travelling. Karl II flew southwards and sent data from Sudan near the Merowe reservoir, constructed on the river Nile

UDU
• Previous data: 24.10.2021, distance 4994 km, +203 km in 1 day, travelling. Udu sent data near Vainia on Crete, Greece
• NEW data: 27.10.2021, distance 5983 km, + 989 km in 3 days, travelling. Udu crossed the Mediterranean Sea and sent data from his/her overnight place in the Western Desert, at about 50 km from Farafra in Egypt

PIKNE
• Previous data: 24.10.2021, distance 5461 km, +652 km in 2 days, travelling. Pikne sent data near Hurghada in Egypt.
• NO NEW data




Karl II


Udu

[Liz01]

Hi everyone

Hellem, I know you like the flight videos by Lukaš! So here we go!
The videos can be shared. thanks to Lukaš

25.10.2021
https://ayvri.com/scene/ykxwgxee59/ckva ... 6k6gqd50ie

26.10.2021
https://ayvri.com/scene/ykxwgxee59/ckva ... 6krehn4zbe

27.10.2021
https://ayvri.com/scene/ykxwgxee59/ckva ... 6k1f3pnt5z

[Hellem]

Liz , thank you

[juta]

PIKNE

Tracker map

Unfortunately no new data

[juta]

KARL II

Tracker map 27.10 - 28.10

Total route 392 km
Battery 100%

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit? ... sp=sharing



Doesn´t look like very nice place for one stork

[juta]

UDU

Tracker map 27.10 - 28.10

Total route 127 km
Battery 75 %

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit? ... sp=sharing



Hope it´s a place where is possible to find something to eat and drink.

[Anne7]

Thank you, Juta

Great! Udu is at the irrigated fields of Farafra.

Well done, little Udu!

There has to be water, and probably s/he will find insects and other things to eat.

Yet I find it strange that Udu flew criss-cross over those fields almost continuously.
Is s/he being frightened off by something? Is s/he being chased away?
Or is the area currently less 'green' than in the below pictures and was s/he looking for a good place?

Stock Photo - Farafra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-faraf ... 43431.html

Stock Photo - Canal to water the fields, Farafra oasis, Egypt.

https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/det ... E-A1000154

Udu's location.

[bigfan]

Great Udu and Karl ...... Pikne will definitely be in Sudan as well. He's on Dad's footsteps ..

[Hellem]

28.10 Birdmap update:

Karl II - 7083 km (+619 km in 2 days), travelling, he flew to the SW direction and sent data from his overnight place near Umm Harazat in Sudan

Udu - 6080 km (+87 km), stopover, Udu sent data from Farafra Oasis in Egypt

Juta, Anne

[Anne7]

Bigfan, Hellem

KARL II is near Umm Harazat in North Kurdufan in Sudan.
That is north of the town El Obeid.

El-Obeid (Arabic: الأبيض, al-ʾAbyaḍ, lit. "the White"), also romanized as Al-Ubayyid, is the capital of the state of North Kurdufan, in Sudan.
…
In 2008, its population was 340,940. It is an important transportation hub: the terminus of a rail line, the junction of various national roads and camel caravan routes, and the end of a pilgrim route from Nigeria. As regional commercial centre, it is known for products such as gum arabic, millet, oilseeds, and livestock.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El-Obeid







This update may be the last (or second-to-last) one this year for Karl II. He will soon disappear ‘from the radar’ until next spring…

[Heloise]

Hello!
Many thanks, Juta, Hellem, Anne!

It is a great relief to see that Udu reached the "green area"!

I worry about all of them always (Pikne, where are you now?)...
It's sad that Karl II might disappear from GSM coverage until spring.
But I believe in him, he is really great!

We will meet in Karula in the spring!

[Heloise]

According to birdmaps, it seems that storks are stubbornly repeating their migration routes of previous years. Is it mapped that a young stork could change it if he found his first journey unfavorable, difficult? Thank you for your answers ... me, layman.

I have the same question.
It would be interesting to know. Maybe someone can answer
Thanks in advance for the reply!

[Anne7]

According to birdmaps, it seems that storks are stubbornly repeating their migration routes of previous years. Is it mapped that a young stork could change it if he found his first journey unfavorable, difficult? Thank you for your answers ... me, layman.

I have the same question.
It would be interesting to know. Maybe someone can answer
...

Hello Heloise ad Bigfan

It is indeed known that BS show high fidelity to their wintering grounds.
And it is also known that (usually, but not always) they follow broadly the same route every year.

But in the case of Udu, who, for an unknown reason, flew an 'erroneous' (or at least very unusual and difficult) route southwards, the question is different. I think there are too few documented observations of BS flying to Africa via Crete over the Mediterranean, to make any meaningful statements.

If Udu finds a good wintering site and survives his first winter, it will be very exciting (and worrying) to see which way s/he will head north in late spring next year, and where s/he will stay during summer.
I dare not make any predictions on this. We can only hope that Udu - perhaps in the company of some experienced BS - will fly the common route via Israel, Syria and Turkey...

Scientists thinks that the route is partly determined by inherited genes, partly by experience (learning/memory). Presumably the weather conditions and most likely also the geomagnetic field play a role.

It is possible that Kaia is a western route flyer. If so, Udu could therefore be a 'migration-hybrid'.
Maybe Udu inherited mixed (and thus confusing) directional instructions.

Posted in the 'What We Know About Black Storks' topic: https://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/vie ... 40#p690340


Migratory Birds May Come Programmed With a Genetic Google Maps
These hybrid avians inherit some mixed directional messages
Abigail Tucker
Smithsonian - Science
Many young birds migrate successfully without help from older birds who have made the trip before. The implication is that migration instructions - perhaps even some sort of map of astronomical or geographical references - are somehow written upon the genes inherited from their parents. Just how maps can be coded into gene structure is anyone's guess. In fact, since the DNA in the genes seems to code only for protein synthesis, the locations and characters of inheritable maps are still not understood.
...
For example, the Swainson’s thrush is split into two subgroups that migrate along very different routes. Every spring both subgroups return to Canada and— here’s the key — they sometimes interbreed.
The researchers found that the 'hybrid' offspring favoured a flyway that was in between those of the two subgroups! Since the hybrid thrushes couldn’t have learned that middle road, it seems that the birds were guided by a mixture of genetic instructions inherited from both parents.
...
The 'hybrid' thrushes flyway takes them over terrain where food may be scarcer than along the other two routes; if many end up starving to death, the hybrid subgroup may never sustain itself, and the other two subspecies may become increasingly distinct until they split into separate species entirely.



Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science- ... iuc2rPB.99


Mixed genes mix up the migrations of 'hybrid' birds
Researcher Kira Delmore
Mixed genes appear to drive hybrid birds to select more difficult routes than their parent species, according to new research from University of British Columbia zoologists. “Instead of taking well-trodden paths through fertile areas, these birds choose to scale mountains and cross deserts,” says UBC researcher Kira Delmore.


Map: Routes of parent sub-species solid black. Hybrid route indicated with dashed line, traversing areas with little insect life, vegetation or water.
© Kira Delmore.
https://news.ubc.ca/2014/07/22/mixed-ge ... rid-birds/

[bigfan]

Thank you Anne
We'll see.......let"s hope

[Anne7]

Bigfan
Yes, we constantly hope for the best...

Hellem,

BIRDMAP OVERVIEW OCTOBER 28

KARL II
• Previous data: 27.10.2021, distance 6464 km, +1608 km in 5 days + morning 27.10, travelling. Karl II flew southwards and sent data from Sudan near the Merowe reservoir, constructed on the river Nile
• NEW data : 28.10.2021, distance 7083 km, +619 km in 2 days, travelling. Karl II flew to the SW and sent data from his overnight place near Umm Harazat in Sudan.

UDU
• Previous data:27.10.2021, distance 5983 km, + 989 km in 3 days, travelling. Udu crossed the Mediterranean Sea and sent data from his/her overnight place in the Western Desert, at about 50 km from Farafra in Egypt
• NEW data: 28.10.2021, distance 6080 km, + 87 km in 1 day, stopover. Udu sent data from the Farafra Oasis in Egypt.

PIKNE
• Previous data: 24.10.2021, distance 5461 km, +652 km in 2 days, travelling. Pikne sent data near Hurghada in Egypt.
• NO NEW data

Overview


Karl II


Udu

[Heloise]

Anne,
thank you very much for your thorough answer!

Yes, maybe both Kaia and Julge's mother are "westward migrants".
But maybe also Julge's father? We don't know anything about him.

There is nothing left but to hope that all goes well.

It is interesting to look at the map.
Udu and Pikne are almost at the same distance, but Udu made a big arc.
Yes, s/he is "Fog"!
But Pikne (Thunder or Lightning) hits straight

[Anne7]

Heloise

Yes, that map is interesting.
It seems that, at some point in Lithuania, Udu either 'deliberately' chose the western route, or, for some unclear reason, completely deviated from the eastern route. (Perhaps due to disturbances in the geomagnetic field?)
Close to the German border, he was able to 'recalibrate' his compass and flew the 'eastern route' exactly as s/he would have flown it starting in Lithuania. His/her track runs quite parallel to Pikne's route (although more wavering), but has been shifted to the west!

The scientist Roswitha Wiltschko has done research on how migrating birds fly when they are deliberately displaced. (Which, in my opinion, is a quite cruel experiment)
It appears that young, first-time migrants continue in their migratory direction, as if they had not been displaced, and thus do not reach their initial destination (their still unknown goal).
Adult migrants, that have already wintered and are familiar with the goal area, approach the goal by true navigation, specifically heading towards it and correcting their course correspondingly after displacement.

Navigation
Roswitha Wiltschko
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
Journal of Comparative Physiology A
July 2017, Volume 203, Issue 6–7, pp 455–463
Abstract
Experiments with migrating birds displaced during autumn migration outside their normal migration corridor reveal two different navigational strategies: adult migrants compensate for the displacement, and head towards their traditional wintering areas, whereas young first-time migrants continue in their migratory direction. Young birds are guided to their still unknown goal by a genetically coded migration program that indicates duration and direction(s) of the migratory flight by controlling the amount of migratory restlessness and the compass course(s) with respect to the geomagnetic field and celestial rotation. Adult migrants that have already wintered and are familiar with the goal area approach the goal by true navigation, specifically heading towards it and changing their course correspondingly after displacement. During their first journey, young birds experience the distribution of potential navigational factors en route and in their winter home, which allows them to truly navigate on their next migrations. The navigational factors used appear to include magnetic intensity as a component in their multi-modal navigational ‘map’; olfactory input is also involved, even if it is not yet entirely clear in what way. The mechanisms of migratory birds for true navigation over long distances appear to be in principle similar to those discussed for by homing pigeons.
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... Navigation


I feel very sorry for Udu. I think he was and still is experiencing a lot of confusion.

[Owlie]

I feel very sorry for Udu. I think he was and still is experiencing a lot of confusion.

I think Udu has cleared it great so far ... Through a more unusual route but to an oasis and so far alive, I respect her/him for the bravery!

[Anne7]

So do I, Owlie.
Udu is definitely a brave and strong juvenile.

Despite his/her very unusual, difficult and dangerous route, Udu is doing well, so far.

Owlie, it isn’t just a “more unusual route”.

Tamás Enikő Anna wrote:
”The Mediterranean migration route is represented only with around 0,2% of the Black Storks in the autumn passage, according to observations and recoveries mostly 1st year and immature birds, a significant number of which is not proven to survive (or proven not to survive). …”
https://dea.lib.unideb.hu/dea/bitstream ... sAllowed=y

0,2% means 2 BS out of 1000.

Moreover, most of the above mentioned BS fly over Italy to Tunisia. From Crete to Egypt is extremely rare.

Fingers crossed!