By ANNE BESTON and AGENCIES
Conservation groups increasingly look to technology to promote their message, and one of the latest projects involves internet-tracking of migrating geese.
Using lightweight satellite transmitters attached to individual birds, Britain's Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and National Geographic have invited the public to sign up for a
mobile phone update on six brent geese as they make their epic 7000km journey between wintering grounds in Ireland and breeding areas in the tundra of eastern Canada.
Satellite telemetry is the only accurate method of monitoring the routes of individual birds and the timing of their journeys.
For about $225, sponsors can ask for a mobile phone update on one of the tagged geese, named Hugh, Oscar, Major Ruttledge, Austin, Kerry and Arnthor.
On the Gloucestershire trust's website, a constantly updated map shows where the geese are. They have already completed the perilous 3000km flight over the Greenland icecap.
The marathon migrations of geese and other birds have fascinated humans for centuries, and the light-bellied brent goose undertakes one of the most hazardous.
Their population is relatively small at only 20,000. They are a category A endangered species and have full protection in Europe and Canada.
But little is known about their route, especially the location of important staging and moulting sites.
In the past couple of years, scientists have used technology to learn more about endangered species, including Antarctica's weddell seals.
The seals were fitted with video cameras so researchers could track their feeding and breeding habits below the ice.
The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
nzherald.co.nz/environment
