Nature’s a Hoot episode 15 – Migration

On this episode we explore the fascinating world of animal migration. Join Tom and Hannah as they chat about why certain species migrate, how they know where to go, and the epic distances some of them travel on their migrations.

We delve into the brilliant initial results from our Egyptian Vulture Project and hear from Dr John Burnside who, along with colleagues, is leading the project researching the migrations of Egyptian Vultures in Central Asia. We also continue our Matter of Fact Challenge, this time it is (of course!) Most Impressive Migration! Vote for your favourite on our poll on Twitter or our Instagram stories!

We hear from Dr John Burnside from University of East Anglia, who is co-leading this project along with colleagues Vladimir Dobrev (Bulgarian Society for Protection of Birds), Anna Ten and Valentin Soldatov (Institute of Zoology, Uzbekistan). John tells us more about his previous work, the background to this ground-breaking research and some of the results so far. We thrilled to be involved in this important research, by helping to fund satellite tags to fit to some of the vultures, and sharing exciting updates and news on the project. The image below shows the globe-trotting route of one of the birds, taking a bit of a tour right past the Taj Mahal!

Migration is an extremely dangerous time for birds; Egyptian Vultures face a range of threats when flying across sea and land such as drowning, hunting, poisoning and electrocution. So far, we have learnt that the picture is much more complex than we anticipated. Although these three birds are just the beginning, the results from this ground-breaking research are absolutely invaluable for their future conservation.

Listen to hear more about the Egyptian Vulture Project, you can also read more about the birds’ movements here.