This is a video of Circus pygargus, Montagu’s harrier, in Spain.
From daily Het Volk in Belgium, noting that the water surface in Limburg province was increased during in recent years:
In Helchteren, since then great crested grebes and Mediterranean gulls were seen.Also the garganey and dabchik, threatened in Flanders, recently have found the way back to Limburg province.
Even the very rare Montagu’s harrier may be seen there now.
From the Google cache of Dear Kitty ModBlog:
See harriers Marion and Beatriz go to Africa Linking: 1 Comments: 1
Date: 10/2/05 at 12:40PM
Every autumn (and every spring), very many millions of birds migrate, of thousands of species, and practically in all countries of the world.
They have many stories to tell.
Including two Montagu’s harrier females, now on their way from The Netherlands to Africa:
September 2005: Two High-tech ladies on their way to the south!!16 July is a historical day for Dutch ornithology.
What we have dreamt of for a long time finally came true.
On that day, we caught two adult female Montagu’s harriers close to their nests in East Groningen (northern Netherlands).
Catching adults has become a routine in our work, but these two are very special ladies: they are now carrying a highly advanced piece of technology on their back.
These satellite transmitters enable us to unravel the migration routes of the long-distance travellers in detail.
Satellite telemetry has become popular during the last years to find out more about migratory behaviour of bird species and use this knowledge for conservation goals.
Montagu’s harrier presently belongs to the smallest bird species tracked by satellite.
It is also the first time that a species migrating to the south is tracked in the Netherlands.
Up to now, species migrating to the north had been followed: Bewick’s swans (Peter Berthold), Brent geese (Bart Ebbinge) and Barnacle geese (Rudi Drent).
Read more here. Last known positions of the two birds: in Morocco, respectively Niger.
If more Montagu harrier females would be tracked later from east Groningen region, maybe it would be a good idea to reflect the region’s history of working class militancy in their names.
Maybe one might be called Rosa (Rosa Luxemburg was also a very keen amateur ornithologist; to whom birds meant very much while she was a political prisoner).
Another one might be called Roosje (Roosje Stel-Vos founded the trade union for seamstresses in Groningen province).
If a male Montagu’s harrier is tagged, Fré (after strawboard workers strike leader Fré Meis) might be an appropriate name.
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