Collared goose’s origin traced back to Mongolia
Bangalore: This bar-headed goose is a frequent traveler between India and Mongolia. Over the last three years, it has visited lakes in the state four times during migration, but was photographed for the first time this year.
Deccan Chronicle reported the sighting of the goose with a green coloured collar on December 13 and the report went viral on social networking sites, helping birdwatchers trace the goose back to Mongolia.
M.B. Krishna, a bird expert from the city, had shared the information on the sighting of the bird and its photograph on his social networking page. Bird groups from Mongolia contacted the community in Bangalore and confirmed that the collars, with the X90 mark on them, were tagged to 23 bar-headed geese in July 2010 at Bayan Lake in northwest Mongolia.
Birdwatcher Basavaraj Onkarappa sighted the bird on December 10 at Hadadi Lake in Davangere and noted down the number on the collar. A bird expert from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Harish R. Bhat, had revealed that the geese are tagged with green coloured collars in Mongolia and yellow tags in Tibet.
Basavaraj, who photographed the goose, said that there were about 25-30 birds in the flock and only this bird was collared. “The other tagged geese might have died during migration over the last three years,” he said.
Krishna said that it’s interesting how international bird watching communities are keeping track of movement of migratory birds through networking sites.
“The Mongolian bird experts have sought the GPS coordinates of the lake where the goose was found and details on the health of the bird. Once the coordinates are given, the Mongolian experts will calculate the distance the bird has flown over the next few days.” Bar-headed geese from Mongolia, Tibet and China fly down to India during winter and return around April.
Deccan Chronicle reported the sighting of the goose with a green coloured collar on December 13 and the report went viral on social networking sites, helping birdwatchers trace the goose back to Mongolia.
M.B. Krishna, a bird expert from the city, had shared the information on the sighting of the bird and its photograph on his social networking page. Bird groups from Mongolia contacted the community in Bangalore and confirmed that the collars, with the X90 mark on them, were tagged to 23 bar-headed geese in July 2010 at Bayan Lake in northwest Mongolia.
Birdwatcher Basavaraj Onkarappa sighted the bird on December 10 at Hadadi Lake in Davangere and noted down the number on the collar. A bird expert from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Harish R. Bhat, had revealed that the geese are tagged with green coloured collars in Mongolia and yellow tags in Tibet.
Basavaraj, who photographed the goose, said that there were about 25-30 birds in the flock and only this bird was collared. “The other tagged geese might have died during migration over the last three years,” he said.
Krishna said that it’s interesting how international bird watching communities are keeping track of movement of migratory birds through networking sites.
“The Mongolian bird experts have sought the GPS coordinates of the lake where the goose was found and details on the health of the bird. Once the coordinates are given, the Mongolian experts will calculate the distance the bird has flown over the next few days.” Bar-headed geese from Mongolia, Tibet and China fly down to India during winter and return around April.
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