Bird Cams Around the World

Loch Garten's 2 years old youngster Breagha is on the move!

On 26 May he left his adopted territory in Senegal near the Casamance River travelling north and by early afternoon on 29 May he had flown 860 km and was in Mauritania still flying north.

Specifically, he appears to have left his normal area in Senegal at around 06.00 GMT on 26 May and flew 250 km NW to the eastern end of The Gambia roosting at 22.00 GMT near the small village of Bansang close to the River Gambia. During the flight he reached an altitude of at least 1060 m and speeds of 34 km/h. Data is missing for 27 May but at 06.00 GMT on 28 May he was perched west of Liou in NW Senegal and flew NNE crossing the border into Mauritania just north of Galoya, Senegal. During this flight he reached an altitude of at least 1290m and a speed of at least 33 km/h. After travelling 200 km during the day he was at roost at 22.00 GMT in the Tarza Desert. He flew NW at around 06.00 GMT on 29 May and at 14.00 GMT (the last recorded data point) he was flying at 1000 m altitude and 25 km/h parallel to the N3 road some 95 km east of the town of Nouakchott.

Breagha has continued with his journey north so this could be a mini-migration. His behaviour is reminiscent of what Rothes did in 2011. On 22nd May 2011, she was also two years old and started a journey north from islands off the coast of Guinea Bissau arriving in SW France on 2nd July 2011 near the town of Sant-Fort-sur-Gironde which is north of Bordeaux and close to the Gironde River. This area was close to where she stayed on a Sturgeon farm during August 2009 on her first migration south. She left the area at the end of September before returning to the same islands in Guinea Bissau.

So, is Breagha also on a mini-migration? If so, is he heading to the Vienne-Loire area of Central France where he spent September 2013 on his migration south?

The current data collection regime is quite course with only three data points per day namely at 06.00, 14.00 and 22.00 GMT. The only data points which show Breagha actually moving are at 14.00 GMT each day with him at rest, presumably roosting for the night, at the other two time points. He could be making many detailed direction changes and stops in the intervening time points.

Overall, Breagha has made quite a journey. From 14.00 GMT on 29 May until 14.00 GMT on 5 June he travelled a total of around 1575 km reaching a highest altitude of 2750 km travelling at 30 km per hour when last recorded crossing into southern Morocco over the southern end of the Anti-Atlas mountains. This part of his journey differs from that followed by Rothes in that she travelled close to the coast for much of her time in NW Africa. The image below shows Breagha’s journey in detail. Highlights are the deviation he made towards the coast between 31 May and 2 June. Was this a fishing trip? On 4 June he crossed the Tropic of Cancer sometime late afternoon or early evening and at 14.00 GMT on 5 June he crossed from Mauritania into southern Morocco at the southern end of the Anti-Atlas Mountains. Where to next? If he continues this northward journey at this rate we might expect him to be in Spain by next weekend when more data becomes available.