A fruitful night in the Tagus estuary

Rice fields, as far as you can see, and more than 30,000 godwits gathered at this migratory crossroads of Europe! At the beginning of February, we joined José Alves and Afonso Rocha’s team (University of Aveiro) to collaborate on catching Black-tailed Godwits in Portugal. Indeed, the Tagus estuary is an important staging area for godwits. By working there, we aim to capture birds that will disperse to several breeding areas in Europe and thus provide us with valuable data on their habitat during the breeding season.

A few birds that had already been equipped with GPS tags in the spring were roosting in the rice fields, which gave us a good indication of where they spent the night. With this valuable information, a highly motivated team, and a bit of luck, 86 black-tailed godwits were captured, and 23 birds were equipped with GPS tags in a single night!

Jimmy, Marie & Pierrick