After a particularly impatient Black-tailed Godwit flew back to Europe from West Africa at the end of October, preparations for departure are now beginning for the majority of Black-tailed Godwits remaining in West Africa. December was already a dynamic month for the birds, as the dry spell following the rainy season is now causing many shallow water areas to dry up more quickly, forcing the birds to move to other areas. Currently, most of the GPS-tagged Black-tailed Godwits are in northern Senegal, in and around the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary, on rice fields that are still wet and in larger bodies of water. Two birds are in the Inner Niger Delta in Mali.
From these areas, the birds then set off on their journey of several thousand kilometres across the Sahara, towards Spain and Portugal. In mid- to late January, three Black-tailed Godwits that were equipped with a GPS transmitter last year set off in this direction. Unfortunately, for one of them, the journey ended on a mountain on Fuerteventura. The Black-tailed Godwit “Ulf” was struck there by a bird of prey on 17 January. The transmitter and the remains of the bird were recovered by British ornithologists on vacation.
The successful Sahara crossers now usually meet up with the Black-tailed Hodwits wintering in Europe on rice fields in the Tagus Delta near Lisbon. Due to its massive hydrological problems, the Coto de Doñana National Park in southern Spain has lost its importance for Black-tailed Godwits, and the areas near Lisbon are now visited much more frequently. While temperatures in Senegal and Guinea-Bissau were still above 30 °C in December and January, sometimes even reaching 36 °C, the Black-tailed Godwits are now certainly getting “cold feet” at around 10 °C at night in Lisbon. Incidentally, our northernmost wintering Black-tailed Godwits spend the cold season in the Ebro Delta at the coast of the Balearic Islands.
