GPS-telemetry unveils the regular high-elevation crossing of the Himalayas by a migratory raptor: implications for definition of a “Central Asian Flyway”

Abstract

Remote technologies are producing leapfrog advances in identifying the routes and connectivity of migratory species, which are still unknown for hundreds of taxa, especially Asian ones. Here, we used GPS-telemetry to uncover the migration routes and breeding areas of the massive population of migratory Black-eared kites wintering around the megacity of Delhi-India, which hosts the largest raptor concentration of the world. Kites migrated for 3300–4800 km along a narrow corridor, crossing the Himalayas at extremely high elevations (up to > 6500 m a.s.l.) by the K2 of the Karakoram Range and travelled long periods at elevations above 3500 m. They then crossed/circumvented the Taklamakan Desert and Tian Shan Range to reach their unknown breeding quarters at the intersection between Kazakhstan, Russia, China and Mongolia. Route configuration seemed to be shaped by dominant wind support and barrier avoidance. Wintering ranges were smaller than breeding ranges and concentrated around Delhi, likely in response to massive human food-subsidies. Our results illustrate that high-elevation crossings by soaring migrants may be more common than previously appreciated and suggest the delineation of a hitherto poorly-appreciated “Central Asian Flyway”, which must funnel hundreds of thousands of migrants from central Asia into the Indian subcontinent via multiple modes of the Himalayan crossing.

Vulture, culture and more: putting human-dimensions back in the saddle for conservation policy

“…Youngsters who never encountered vultures in wild, and/or female subjects who were less outdoorsy than male members of their families discussed the cultural salience of vultures, based on folktales, television and documentaries. Considering the sympatric opportunism exhibited by several avian scavengers for human-offal over accumulated garbage-an aspect more prominent at the sanitary land lls that currently support enormously large ocks of migratory black-eared kites Milvus migrans lineatus (n= 10,000 birds at Ghazipur: see 49 )-vernacular names for vultures and kites were used interchangeably (Supplementary material 2). Contrary to our expectations, immigrants who worked on land lls, tending waste in the proximity of multiple commensal species, re ected poorly on salience or charisma associated with avian scavengers.…”

Behaviour Classification on Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) Using Machine Learning Algorithms on Triaxial Acceleration Data of Two Commonly Used GPS Devices and Its Possible Application for Their Management and Conservation

“…However, for the AWT device future studies about the battery lifetime with different settings of recording acceleration data are needed as additionally recording of acceleration data will lead to a slightly faster drain of the battery. E-obs devices were usually used on birds or relatively small wild mammals [ 73 , 74 , 75 ] but are adaptable to the particular study in terms of battery used: here, solar-buffered versions or larger batteries (with a longer life span) are possible options.…”

Bird Strike to Aircrafts An Assessment of Changing Bird Populations at Select Indian Airfields

“…The available information on Black Kite counts at Agra, Sirsa, and Jodhpur airfields indicate the significant increase in its activity at Agra. The probable causes for the increase could be the primitive waste management system of the city, reduction of Vulture population giving more space to Kites, and also the contribution by the migrating kites from Mongnolia 30 .…”

“…The Black Kite population of a city mainly centers at the main garbage dumping site and meat/poultry markets as observed in Delhi, Bengaluru, and other places [10][11]30 . A general comparison of the waste generation of three cities indicated that Agra generates around 824 Tons per Day (TPD), Jodhpur generates 450 TPD and Sirsa generates 172 TPD.…”

“…The recent GPS tagged studies of Black-eared Kite from India, Mongolia, and Thailand give a glimpse into the complex dynamic nature of the movement of Kites. The Indian study (in which 19 Kites were tagged) 30 records the movement of Blackeared Kites from Mongolia to India from mid-August to the latter half of September. The return journey was recorded from mid-March to early May.…”