Geese Online

The Greylag Geese telemetry project started in spring 2012 in the Czech Republic and this website has been created to present results of this project.

In 2012, nine geese were attached by GPS GSM transmitters weighing 100 g (two individuals in Northwest Bohemia, one in Highlands Region and six individuals in South Bohemia). At that time, it was a novelty in geese monitoring in Europe. Although the transmitters discharged or were removed within one to ten months, one trasmitter recorded whole annual migration of goose individual.

In 2014, five geese were marked in South Bohemia. There were used trasmitters with combination of internal battery and solar power weighing 90 g. The annual migration of two other individuals were recorded.

In 2015, another six geese were marked in South Bohemia. There were used transmitters combining internal battery and solar power weighing 35-90 g.

In 2016, two females were marked in the Vysočina Region by transmitters with solar power weighing 90 g.

Aim of this project is to detect and analyse detailed information about the tracked individuals, such as rate of use of particular parts of the territory during the annual migration, the speed of movement, food and habitat preferences, but also to analyse the effect of hunting management on their behaviour.

The project was funded by Origin and migratory movements of Camargue wintering Greylag geese ONCFS (Office national de la chasseet de la faune sauvage) France, Mathieu Boos (Naturconst@, France), by grants from Czech University of Life Sciences Prague IGA FŽP 20144279 a IGA FŽP 20154223 and by ZOO Dvůr Králové a. s.

The website has been created and maintained by the Department of Information Technologies of Czech University of Life Sciences Prague and the system uses GPS Trace Route 1.0, Ground Station Harvester (GSH 1.0) software.

Wildlife telemetry

Marked animals are tracked by the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the form of a backpack which records animal´s location with accuracy of within few meters. A GPS receiver records animal´s location, time and date at programmed intervals (i.e. usually 2hour-intervals). Moreover, the activity sensor records the temperature. Transmitters are equipped with GSM modules, which enable data transport into server.

More information at:  http://www.waterbirdmonitoring.cz/monitorovaci-programy/monitoring-hus/GPS-monitoring-hus/

Head picture © Tom Jůnek