Flying south with the storks

Ornithologists increasingly use lightweight transmitters with satellite bearing to track the position of birds thus gaining a better understanding of their migration habits. Nature lovers can follow the current migration routes of six storks on an interactive map on the Internet.

Over the present weeks, migratory European storks are arriving at their winter feeding grounds, mostly in Africa. Bird lovers who have patiently guarded young chicks in their nests and watched them growing up are especially keen for them to return safely the following spring. Hazardous obstacles in their path, such as overhead power lines and unprotected water tanks, are identified most easily by tracking these large birds via satellite, allowing steps to be taken to make them safe. Moreover, the data provides important ornithological facts about the birds migratory habits. To inform children about the impressive flight performance of the storks and familiarize them with computers in an entertaining manner, the geographical data of the flight routes has been made available on the Internet. This and the animated map is provided by staff at the Fraunhofer Institute for Autonomous Intelligent Systems AIS and implement the data.
The leading figures on http://www.storchenzug.de are called Little Princess, her mate Jonas, Valinka, Felix, Anna-Marie and Sophia. All six storks have been tagged with powerful miniature transmitters, weighing just 50 grams. The birds coordinates are established via satellite and entered on an interactive map of Europe and Africa on a daily basis. Each storks route is color-coded. A time line allows users to enter an earlier date and play an time-lapse animation of the flight route. By dragging the mouse or using the zoom buttons, sections of the map can be enlarged, reduced and moved. Functions for displaying or hiding areas of water, national frontiers and the birds geographical range provide an added level of interrelated information, giving rise to questions which could be discussed as part of a school project. Or do you know why the birds avoid flying over the Mediterranean? Even ornithologists have only just begun to understand why some storks fly west over Gibraltar and others head east over Israel.
The geographical data and statistics in the interactive map are compiled by an adapted type of CommonGIS software. Unlike other geographical information systems, our program automatically generates thematically arranged maps, emphasizes Hans Voss, project manager at the AIS. This means professional users dont have to monotonously render and visualize the data, and can devote their time entirely to the more important tasks of selection and analysis.,For further information:
Dr. Hans Voss ,Telefon +49/ 22 41 / 14-25 32 ,Fax +49/ 22 41 / 14-20 72 ,[e-mail]
Fraunhofer-Institut fur Autonome Intelligente Systeme AIS ,Schloss Birlinghoven ,53754 Sankt Augustin
Links: ,AIS: Pressemitteilung ,http://ais.gmd.de/de/pm/020416.html

Countries

Germany