The Taiwan Raptor Research Group have been satellite tracking the migration routes of 5 Grey-faced Buzzards fitted with satellite tracking devices in Taiwan last autumn.
The track of one particular bird is revealing, and shows how these birds can arrive in Hong Kong in spring
My chinese is not good enough to understand all the details, but it seems this bird arrived to the west of Hong Kong on 15th April 2009, according to markings on the map.
The satellite track shows how birds migrating from Philippines through Taiwan to north China and Japan can arrive in Hong Kong. 15th April was a day after a cold front passed through - here is the weather chart for 14th April
These birds would normally fly directly north in spring from Philippines to Taiwan, as you can see from the other tracks on their website. In this case, the front forced the bird to fly west into south China.
As it happens, I saw a Grey-faced Buzzard on Po Toi on 15th April - this is the photo of the bird I posted on our website that week. It doesn't seem to have a transmitter strapped around it but I'm not sure you could see it from underneath.
I'm not suggesting this is the same bird as the satellite bird - there were probably several hundred Grey-faced Buzzards making land in the south China area on 15th April.
[ Last edited by wgeoff at 21/09/2010 18:12 ] Author: oLDcaR Time: 13/06/2009 09:16
Thanks Geoff ...
It is a interesting post to let me know more about the migration of Grey faced Buzzard. Author: wgeoff Time: 14/06/2009 13:45
Thanks Kenny.
Satellite tracking is confirming what we have only guessed at so far - most of the land bird migrants we see in spring (not just Grey-faced Buzzard) arrive over the South China Sea from Philippines, Borneo, Vietnam and Hainan, and particularly after fronts and rain.
At some time in the future, the technology will be available to allow satellite tracking of smaller birds. (I suspect it already exists, in the hands of secret services). Maybe within the next 10 years we will replace inactive bird rings with ring transmitters that will tell us exactly where the birds are. An exciting prospect.
[ Last edited by wgeoff at 14/06/2009 14:40 ]
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