LifeTrack of White Stork ,tag 2550 (ring HH 873), Ciconia ciconia 2012 to 2013

1. LifeTrack of White Stork ,tag 2550 (ring HH 873), Ciconiaciconia2012 to 2013 Sex: female Born: Nest location: Loburg/ Germany Tagging Date: 31st July 2012 Ring no.: HH873 Mother: Tag number 2303 Siblings: 3 / tag 2548, 2549 Died in: Tanzania / Africa Date of death: not known - poison/toxinis a possibility Cause of death: Sponsors: MPIO and HUJ/DIP, StorchenhofLohburg Special info: Used for Annotation with DLR for Urbanization

2. PHOTOS Photosofnest

3. General view of the destination point. The dead twigs in the foreground marks the exact location.

4. Destination, looking North towards Lake Rukwa

5. Patch where Stork was found

6. First Sight: Body was hidden by long grasses, under the shade of a large, thorny shrub

8. Anotherstorknearby

9. CORRESPONDENCE Assistance Requested to Retrieve a GPS Transmitter from a Dead Stork near Rukwa lake, Tanzania 13 March, 2013 Your assistance is greatly appreciated in retrieving a GPS device from a dead stork that is near the shore of lake Rukwa. The stork that was carrying the device was part of a research study on stork migration. Storks migrate tremendous distances and spend some time in Tanzania. The researchers who are involved with this project would like to find the dead stork in order to estimate why it died and get GPS device back because it contains the last data that may help to relate the last movements to its death. The GPS coordinates for the device are latitude -8.511727 and longitude 32.831432 with an accuracy of about 5 meters. To get close to the device to find it on the ground, you will need a GPS unit. The yellow square on the map to the right shows the location of the device which is about 800 meter south of the lake. To zoom in to this area using Google Maps, you can open this link: TanzaniaStork , green arrow mark the tag location. The map on the next page show the location of the stork in larger zoom in. The GPS device stopped transmitting its location in the 11-Mar-2013, however before it stopped working it was in the same location for quite a while, so the bird was probably lying there for quite some time. It stopped working because the solar charged batteries have run out. The device is small, about the size of half a pack of cigarettes (see picture) and was attached to the bird with a backpack like harness. Look for a bird carcass on the ground, and/or some straps or GPS device. If you find a carcass try to estimate the cause of death and take pictures. If you are willing to go out and look for it or if it was found, kindly contact the biologist of the project Shay Rotics at shay.rotics@mail.huji.ac.il. It is recommended to contact Shay before going out to get the most recent update.

10. CORRESPONDENCE Dead Stork near Rukwalake, 13 March, 2013 Lake Rukwa

11. CORRESPONDENCE Hello allNowwehaveanotherdeadstork, thatdied in Tanzania (tag 2550). Location is: -8.511727 / 32.831432 (lat/lon), on theshoresoflakeRukwa. I'mveryconfidentofthislocationsincewegot a longsequenceoffixedpositionsuntilthedepletionofthebattery. The locationseemsaccessibleandthe last message was just 2 daysago so theretrievalchancesarevery high. Do youknowanyonewhocanhelp in Tanzania?As usual, in additiontofindingthetransmitter, weare also interested in gettingsomepictures, estimatingthecauseofdeathfromthecarcass, andreadytocoverlocaltravelcost.ThanksAll thebestShay Dear Tim!Great, great, great, and superb! Excellentand a very quick job - welldoneandmanythanks. Later on I'll send yousomedetailsabouttheretrievedstorkand will begladtohearmore on howit was foundandaboutthisarea. Brigitta / Martin, pleasegive Tim instructionshowandwhereto send it (plus coveringshipmentcost). Warm regards Shay On Sat, Mar 16, 2013 at 10:50 PM, Tim Davenport <tdavenport@wcs.org> wrote: Success!! Pleasedtosaywehaveretrievedthestorkandthetransmitter. The animalhasbeendeadat least a week so causeofdeathhardtodetermine. The carcassisnow in ourfreezer in Mbeya. More detailstofollow Tim

12. CORRESPONDENCE From: Tim Davenport [mailto:tdavenport@wcs.org] Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2013 9:50 PMTo: Shay RoticsCc: Steve Osofsky; Ran Nathan; Wayne Getz; Liz VanWormer; hsadily@gmail.com; djwolking@ucdavis.edu; Wikelski, MartinSubject: Re: Another dead stork with transmitter - now in Tanzania Success!! Pleased to say we have retrieved the stork and the transmitter. The animal has been dead at least a week so cause of death hard to determine. The carcass is now in our freezer in Mbeya. More details to follow Tim

13. CORRESPONDENCE Dear all Firstly I hope I have all therightpeople on here. I am assumingthisis a collaborativeprojectbetweenvariousinstitutions, so apologiesif I havemissedsomeone. I am delightedwewere also abletohelp in a smallway. Shay, manythanksforthestorybehindtheprojectandthis individual. From a conservationperspective, migratoryspeciesofany type present such a hugechallenge. Havinggoodsciencetosupportimplementationis essential andlearningabout individual animalsbringsthattolife. Toreadthat 8 out ofthe 18 juveniles youtagged in August havediedis in itself a fascinatingstatistic. Giventheareawhere individual 2550 diedthereisnoobviousanthropogeniccausesofdeaththatcometomind, not least asthecarcasswasn'teaten. However, I supposepoison/toxinis a possibility, not least withthehistoricandunmanageduseofmercuryaround Lake Rukwatomineforgold. Therehasbeensomeworklookingatthe high levelsofmercury in someofthefeederstreams. Anyway, I attachNiwaeli'sexcellentfilewithimages. Verymanythanksto her, aswellasButoandAyubuforspendingtheirSaturdayhuntingfordeadstorks in this remote location. And Noah fororganisingit all. We will work on therepatriationofthetransmittertotheaddressyougaveus Brigitta, thankyou. Fedex isunreliable in upcountryTanzania so wemaylookforothersaferoptions, but we will letyouknow. Pleasekeepusupdated on theproject. Withbestwishes Tim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tim Davenport PhDCountry Director - TanzaniaWildlife Conservation Society (WCS)PO Box 922, Zanzibar, East Africawww.wcstanzania.organdwww.wcs.org www.tzwildlifecorridors.orgwww.tanzaniaherps.orghttp://programs.wcs.org/shcpreddwww.atherismatildae.orgwww.zanzibarcrows.org