LifeTrack of White Stork , Tag 91792, ring CA005371, Ciconia ciconia2011-2012

Sex: FemaleBorn: June 2011Nest location: Loburg / GermanyTagging Date: 08.July 2011Mother/Father: Chick of AlbertSiblings: Died in: 120 km west of “Ad-Damazin” Sudan / AfricaDate of death: approx. 14 December 2012Cause of death: possibly shot down by huntersSponsors: MPIO and HUJ/DIP, Storchenhof Lohburg

Special info:

Location where stork was found

The remains of the stork

Tag recovered from 2552

CORRESPONDENCE

Letter to Sudan

Dear XXXWe are interested in a collaboration to find a dead white stork with a transmitter tag in Sudan.

As part of a big study on survival and migration of young white storks (Ciconia ciconia), 18 individuals were fitted with advanced GPS transmitters last summer in Germany. One of them died in Sudan in an agriculture area, 120 km west of the city “Ad-Damazin“ (near the border). We have the exact last location of the stork, which was sent to us from the transmitter 2 weeks ago by SMS. We are interested in a collaboration to find the stork in order to determine the cause of death and to get the transmitter which contains data on the stork‘s movements. We will be happy to share the information about this stork which was wintering in Sudan and launch future cooperation in our study. Of course we are willing to pay for the time and travel costs. We ask for your cooperation on this or for recommendation of someone else who could help.Sincerely

CORRESPONDENCE

Dear Mr. Hashim, our contact person in Sudan was not able to look for the transmitter as he promised. I wanted to see you would be still interested in helping us to get the transmitter of the stork back. Here are the coordinates : Last location from the tag in Sudan was at 24-Dec: 11.86639 / 33.26955 (lat/lon), so chances of retrieval are not high.I am sorry to get back to you so late and really hope you are still willing to assist.Many thanks and best regards,

Brigitta Keeves

Emails:

Von: sudan wildlife Gesendet: Montag, 21. Januar 2013 06:17An: Keeves, BrigittaBetreff: Re: Missing stork Dear Keeves,Thanks for your message. Regret for the delay because I was in Ethiopia, addressing similar issues with the migratory Egyptian vulture in collaboration with the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds. We are willing to search the dead bird and cooperate with you as well in the future. The cost of travel will be sent to you as soon as possible. The area over there is unstable and we have to check with the securiy whether they will allow us to visit it. May be, you send the coordinates so we can let you know the potentailities of doing the search. Regards, IbrahimHashim

CORRESPONDENCE

Dear,Few days ago I wrote:“Dear conservationist, I am glad to contact you a bit late; everything just came by chance. I have been contacted by an ornithologist from Germany to look for a tagged stork that might have been dead in Sudan. I am now preparing to leave on Thursday. While I was discussing the situation with my colleagues in the Sudanese Wildlife Society, one member told me that he came across at least seven rings collected from a white stork in one village in the White Nile State which is bordering Khartoum from the South. The villagers said two of the rings are silver rings so they immediately took them to the gold maker and converted them to ring that they are now fitting in their fingers. The other five rings are black plastic rings. They brought one and promised to bring the remainder. They collected the rings because in many parts of Sudan the White storks are hunted and people do eat it. The amazing thing about the ring is that they fixed it in the leg of their chicken, possible thinking that the ring might be doing god things for their birds. Some of them plainly asked for a price to get the remaining rings. Anyway the rings may be obtained sooner or later. I tried to send the specification of the ring through the e-mal written on it but it does not respond.The specifications are as follows: Hiddensee Bird Ringing Center.HK 949HEDE-mail: beringnngszentralelungmv-regierung.de I hope the information is useful. Regards Ibrahim M. Hashim,”

CORRESPONDENCE

The trip to the located cite of the White stork started on Thursday. The terrain over there was inaccessible so there was a good preparation. GPS was hired from the Sudanese Wildlife Society. A vehicle was also hired. Two researchers were my companions. The area is reached almost after two days in a long difficult drive. It was almost lifeless. Only few camel herders were encountered at some places. But tracks of 4WD vehicles were common. There is some Dorcas gazelle in remote areas in hilly terrain. Poachers usually go there and poach the gazelle. The Coordinates fell in a cliff. The White stork was possibly roosting there just at the edge of wide, sandy valley. There was no source of water. The environment was very dry. Looking for the bird on the site, we suddenly came across scattered feathers and some bone. We thought that the bird died naturally and possibly eaten by a predator. Feces of some predators were encountered in the cliff. The search for the tag continued and we began digging the mobile sand surrounding the scattered feathers.Suddenly the tag was found in a rock nearby. Somebody cut the strings and removed the tag from the bird without destroying it. Searching further, ammunition of a shot gun was found in the vicinity. Obviously, the bird was shot by a poacher. It is worth mentioning the White stork is hunted in many parts of the Sudan. But I wonder whether the bird was targeted by the hunter or just killed for the Sake of killing. I am not sure whether people at this part of the Sudan hunt the White Stork. The hunter was looking for the Dorcas gazelle and he encountered the stork by chance. There was an indication from the scattered feathers that only one stork was shot. So the question is whether the hunter found only one stork or flock storks and shot the only one with the tag. I am inclined to support the last assumption. Similar problems were encountered with Egyptian vulture. Many of these carrying tags were shot in rural areas. Villagers are anxious to know what these things are. In fact tags became one of the main causes of the Egyptian vulture mortality. At this stage, I cannot assume the same for storks. But it should be kept in mind that once people see a tagged bird they will shoot it. In the case of the Egyptian vulture, the tags are usually taken to the security, thinking that the devices are used for spying.If there is a long-term study about migratory storks, it will take some time to find out whether the tags are a thread for the birds.

Ibrahim M. Hashim,Sudanese Wildlife Society.