Lubos Peske and a young stork equipped with a transmitter, shortly before being released (Borgaon Manju, 18 December 2007) Autor: Hana Staňková

Over the past three days, after the young stork was localized on May Day afternoon near Kabul (more precisely, somewhat further to the north, near the town of Charikar), we received only 2 isolated localizations, each based on a single signal. Unfortunately, temperature and other data from sensors were not available.

A very well functioning transmitter has suddenly almost stopped broadcasting. That may mean that the stork fell victim to bird hunting in the densely populated area to the east of the town. Yet there remains a glimmer of hope. On May 2, at 10 p.m., i.e. Two hours after midnight local time on May 3, the transmitter switched to active mode, which was supposed to be followed by another 24-hour silence.

The following active period (confirmed by one initial ON signal from May 4, 00:50 UTC), was part of a new cycle to be followed by a 96-hour silence. Unless some additional data arrive, we will have to wait for 4 days to see if the transmitter works.

Considered the coincidence with the switch to the new operating cycle, we cannot rule out a technical failure.

The other stork has been staying in the same place in the Tarim region. For more details, zoom in to the dots in that map that denote the latest locations.

Position of satellites when they captured Marko's signal Autor: Lubomír Peške

Signal from Marko's transmitter has been detected after a long time. Three satellites captured 6 transmissions, yet the system was unable to determine his position even with the least accuracy.

We can guesstimate his current location based on the position of the satellites at the moment they captured the signals. The signals were quite strong, which suggests the satellites were most likely almost straight above him.

Notes: The images depict positions of the satellites at the moment they captured the signal. The red circles denote their maximum range. (The upper images show the trajectory of one satellite within the 5 minutes between capturing the first and the last signal, while the lower images show the other satellites.)

Even though some images may suggest that Marko is back in his nesting area in Central Mongolia, his position is more likely somewhere around the border in the south of Mongolia and the north of China. We hope that other location data emerge, if Marko appears in warmer areas where a higher temperature may revive the dying battery in his transmitter.

What about the storks that have been tracked since last year?

Black - Altynai; Red - young; Blue - adult Autor: Lubomír Peške

We have received interesting information about our new storks in India. The young stork moved a little westward, approximately to the area where I captured it in December. The adult bird flew around 400 km to the northeast on April 16, to find itself between Bhopal and Indore, some 30 km from the 2003/4 and 2004/5 wintering grounds of Altynai, which nested at river Ob in Siberia. Will our new storks eventually fly there as well?