One of the objectives of the research investigations in the project “Active protection of the great snipe Gallinago media in the Upper Narew River Valley Natura 2000 site” was to determine the phenology of migrations of the great snipe. To this aim, the birds were fitted with 20 miniature (0.9 g) logging devices known as geolocators. These devices record ambient light intensity and time. In this way, when the birds are captures and data is analyzed using dedicated software, we can tell the time of sunrise and sunset in areas where the great snipes stayed, and thus identify approximate latitude and longitude in which they had been.

Thanks to five males who returned to us after a year, we were able to identify when our great snipes leave their breeding sites, where they winter, and when they come back. On average, the birds started their autumn migration on August 20^th, and returned to their breeding sites around mid-April. We also know that one of them, on its way to western Africa, flew 6000 km nonstop without resting during as little as three days! Geolocator data indicates that during spring migration, in the beginning of April, the birds reach southern Europe, where – according to reports from ornithologists – they can be spotted foraging on humid mountain slopes covered with short grass, e.g. in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria.

Only a few more days and we will be able to hear the first displaying males in the Upper Narew River Valley – which we certainly won’t forget to report with joy!

Michał Korniluk