Navarre's new data (up to September 11th, 2009)

Taking into account the last data, Navarre came again to Aralar in the autumn/winter of 2008/2009, stayed there in winter and went back to Russia in the spring of 2009.

Given the woodcocks’ special behavior (related to the different places where they breed, stay in winter and so on) and taken into account the specific behavior of Navarre (she came to Aralar in 2007 and went back to Russia in 2008), it is possible and plausible the bird to have done the same track again (around 3,800 km to reach Aralar and another 3,800 km to go back to Russia): 3,800 + 3,800 = 7,600 km.

With this hypothesis Navarre has traveled around 7,600 km from August 2008 until September 11th, 2009.

There are only two possibilities:

(1) Navarre is still in Russia on September 11th. So, Navarre, all in all, has travelled around 11,425 km plus 7,600 = 19,025 km. Around 19,000 km.

(2) Navarre is already in her coming back, again, towards Aralar. In this case, Navarre has travelled even more than 19,000 km.

Navarre was defined as iron woodcock (2007/2008), then as golden woodcock (2008).

Taken into account the very special behavior of this bird in the period 2008-2009, Dr. Charles Fadat defined her as the Master of Suspense.

That Master of Suspense, however, has become a diamond woodcock, travelling more than 19,000 km.

But Navarre has even overcome the label of diamond woodcock: she is wonderful, just wonderful.

Iron woodcock becomes golden

We have already dealt with Navarre as the iron woodcock [1].

But this wonderful woodcock continued her journey, second time in 2008, to Russia. She was in Russia after traveling around 11,425 km.

More than that, she was nesting again: around 2.8 km from last year’s nest.

So, we have redefined her: from now on, she is and always will be the golden woodcock.

As William Shakespeare would say

[2], Navarre is the wonder of the World.

[1] https://www.microwavetelemetry.com/uploads/NewsletterPDFs/MTINewsletter_2008_Spring_page6.pdf

[2] Actually this is what Shakespeare wrote: Navarre shall be the wonder of the world, in http://www.clas.ufl.edu/ipsa/journal/2005_krims06.shtml.

Location accuracy

Europe is 'different'. Some differences are related to interference [1].

The Eurasian woodcock is also 'different'. The bird flies at night. During the day the bird rests in places where there is no much light.

(The woodcock's weight is around 300/350 grams. There is no possibility, up to now, to track them with Argos/GPS PTTs.)

So,

(1) What could be done to try and track this small bird with its strange behavior?
(2) What can be said about the class A and B locations, usually the only ones one can get in its tracking?

Here a couple of works dealing with location accuracy: http://www.euskonews.com/0484zbk/gaia48404en.html and http://es.scribd.com/doc/58456473/Accuracy-of-A-and-B-class-locations.


[1]

https://www.microwavetelemetry.com/uploads/NewsletterPDFs/MTINewsletter_2005_Winter_page8.pdf

https://www.microwavetelemetry.com/uploads/NewsletterPDFs/MTINewsletter_2006_Spring_page8.pdf

 

Navarre: Iron woodcock

Navarre is a young woodcock we caught in Bakaiku (province of Navarre on March 2007); the bird is a female (known by genetic analysis). Navarre went up to Russia, came back to 11 km from the point she was released (traveling more than 7,600 km).

According to some European people in charge of the most famous clubs of woodcock hunters, our Navarre has almost become a kind of mythological hero.

We did know about the woodcock’s habitats and habits. In this particular case, Navarre has proved that she has come back right to her winter resting place, the beautiful beech grove of Aralar.

More than that, in order to reach her winter place to stay resting, she has had to come along very different places where the hunting period was opened: many different European regions with hunters everywhere. This is why some European fellows have defined her as iron woodcock.

Being female, almost a mythological hero, and, above all, an iron woodcock, some friends of ours wish this bird had lots of chickens, just to give them her biological strength and her intuition, so that her chickens could be also able to solve all these dangerous obstacles.

Long live Navarre!As William Shakespeare wrote, Navarre shall be the wonder of the World.

For more information, see  

https://www.microwavetelemetry.com/uploads/NewsletterPDFs/MTINewsletter_2008_Spring_page6.pdf

Some photograpic documents (Astur)

Astur's track (2007): 4,659 km

Astur and Navarre

In 2007, we used two kinds of PTTs: one PTT-100 9.5 gram Solar PTT, duty cycle 48/10 and transmission interval of 60 seconds (Astur); and the other one with duty cycle 48/10 and transmission interval of 45 seconds (Navarre).

Astur travelled around 4,660 km.

Navarre travelled around 3,890 km.

Here some results:

a) Very few emissions up to Russia
b) Astur went up to the Ural Mountains
c) Navarre was nesting during some days
d) Inside Russia Navarre’s PTT (transmission interval of 45 seconds) gave better emissions than Astur’s PTT (transmission interval of 60 seconds)
e) The PTT we used in 2006, 12 gram solar PTT, duty cycle 48/10, gave much better emissions, in quality and quantity
f) Inside Russia, the PTT we used in 2006 gave more regular emissions than the new ones, the frequency of the emissions was much better
g) The charge of the PTTs is the key point, not only against interferences but also to give better emissions
h) So, in new projects the PTTs would have to charge more
i) The problem of the interferences is really serious, hard and deep

We were able to determine the location accuracy of some class A and B locations [1].

First time that we think about the possibility of going up to the Ural Mountains and release there a couple of woodcocks, one at each side of the mountains to track them.

Information in Basque:

http://mugarikgabekoscolopaxrusticola.blogspot.com/

[1] See Location accuracy of emissions gathered via satellite:
http://www.euskonews.com/0484zbk/gaia48404en.html.

Some photographic documents (Trasgu)

Trasgu's track (2006): 3,742 km