Researchers from the EU LIFE+ Malta Seabird Project today confirmed
that Storm Petrels (Kangu ta’ Filfla), small seabirds nesting on the
island of Filfla, have been successfully tracked for the first time in
Europe using radio-tracking technology.
Previous attempts to radio-track Storm Petrels in Europe had failed
as this research method is extremely difficult due to the small size of
these seabirds and the vast areas they can cover.Last July, BirdLife Malta researchers equipped 34 Storm Petrel adults on Filfla with radio-tags which are very light and small tracking devices that emit radio-signals. Researchers carried out 30 flights with a Cessna aircraft equipped with special antennas covering more than 8,000 nautical miles over the sea. In addition to the aerial surveys, researchers used antennas on a boat and on land to monitor signals from the tagged birds.
During July and August over 200 signals from 24 tagged birds were received and logged onto a special software pin-pointing the birds’ locations with GPS accuracy. Some signals were picked up as far out as the Italian island of Linosa.
http://gozonews.com/24910/a-first-in-europe-malta-leads-storm-petrels-research/
