Roller-meetup on the southern hemisphere

2018.01.29.  10:06

Our three satellite tagged rollers are about 7500 km far from their breeding ground, yet they are in close proximity to one another. One of them was a little behind, still at the Congo rainforests during Christmas, but they soon caught up with each other. 


Roller (Photo: Tibor Horváth).

The rollers continuously change their position during hunting, so in order to keep track of their movements we frequently update our interactive map. All three birds are near the Okawango delta, within about a 100km radius from each other. 


The current position of "Eleven" (red), "Hadnagy" (yellow) and "Éganya" (orange) (click on the picture to get to the interactive map).

We are lucky to be able to follow the journey of “Eleven” the second year running. He’s been spending some time near a riverside village, called Makalamabedi. This is interesting because none of our tagged birds have spent much time near populated areas whilst in Africa. 


We can take a peak at the habitat "Eleven" is using with the help of google streetview. The area is probably much greener now than on the pictures, due to the current rainy season. (Source: Google streetview - click on the picture)
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The simple houses and the road network of the village is clearly visible on the satellite image, so are the rectangular agricultural areas. This wooded area, slightly agricultural area provides a great wintering ground for “Eleven”. 


The surroundings of the village (Source: www.dailynews.gov.bw).

The other two birds are about 50 km north-east from “Eleven”, in the Chobe National Park. “Hadnagy” had already been in this area over Christmas, whist “Éganya” only joined recently. This location seems to be ideal for rollers: “Eleven” spent some time here too over Christmas, and “Csele” (tagged in 2015) also used this area for a period of time. 


Roller (Photo: Tibor Horváth).

 Gabriella Göcző

Prime Hype DF 2016 EP