NIOZ is tracing birds fitted with transmitters in Mauritania

25-01-2013  This month, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) has fitted migratory birds with transmitters in order to be able to trace them. On 10 January, Christine Lagarde, Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), released the first red knot fitted with a transmitter in the Parc National du Banc d'Arguin in Mauritania.

Christine Lagarde made a private visit to the Parc National du Banc d'Arguin at the time when the NIOZ transmitter project got under way. She looked on as the first red knot with a transmitter, 'Christine', was released on the beach of Iwik.

The red knot Christine is fitted with a transmitter and a unique colour combination for identification. The transmitters, the so-called TDOA transmitter system, have been developed by NIOZ and Cornell University (US). Christine and 40 other red knots will be traced every single second in the coming weeks. Nine receiving stations have been set up around the bay of Iwik to trace the movements of the red knots. The NIOZ scientists hope to be able to record in detail the relation between the presence of zostera, food in the mudflats, and locations selected by the Knots, and to find out what the consequences are for both zostera and the red knots.

This research project is part of research carried out by Prof. Theunis Piersma's research group, 'Shorebirds in Space', for which he received a TOP grant from NWO, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research; it is also part of the VIDI project 'Pervasive Impact of Intertidal Top Predators' by NIOZ scientist Dr Jan A. van Gils.

Photographs:
As Christine Lagarde is looking on, flanked by NIOZ technician John Cluderay (left) and the director of the Parc National du Banc d'Arguin (right), the first red knot with a transmitter, Christine, is released on the beach of Iwik.  
Photograph: Marieke Feis

Theunis Piersma explains the workings of the transmitter system to Christine Lagarde, just before she releases the red knot that was named after her.
Photograph: Marieke Feis