Ruse, rumour, and reality around a GPS-tagged migratory bird named Feeroz
The adventurous and astounding 8,000 km round journey between Bangladesh and China met a tragic end for a GPS-tagged bird. The death highlighted a glaring gap between men and wildlife of Bangladesh
In the last week of September 2022, my PhD research on migratory shorebirds stumbled upon a very unusual phenomenon. A GPS-tagged bird was caught near the coastal flats of Maheshkhali, Cox's Bazar.
The GPS tag — which is only the size of a small square and can let researchers have real-time data to help reveal scientific information — was attached to the bird's back. It stirred curiosity among locals, and fueled rumours.
The ill-fated bird, a black-tailed godwit, the national bird of the Netherlands, faced libel. The locals unknowingly created a ruse — that neighbouring countries had sent a spy bird!
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It spread so much that several TV channels picked it up and broadcast it without any verification. The bird, already sapped after flying thousands of miles, eventually died notwithstanding handling stress and heaps of attention. But what was the reality?
The remarkable journey of Feeroz
The bird, named Feeroz, after Professor Mohammad Mostafa Feeroz of Zoology, Jahangirnagar University, was a long-distance migratory shorebird. A lightweight GPS tag (4.5 gm) from Nijhum Dweep was mounted on its back like a backpack on 30 December 2021, for collecting data on the still largely unknown migration ecology of this species. Its left leg was ringed with two yellow flags indicating that the bird has been tagged in Bangladesh.
The right leg was ornated with a unique combination of blue, yellow, and green coloured rings that gave a unique, individual identity. After safe release, Feeroz wandered around Nijhum Dweep for the next five months.
On 23 May 2022, Feeroz started his northward migration. He reached Inner Mongolia, China, after travelling about 4000 km in just two weeks. He spent around a month and a half there.
On 24 July 2022, he started his flight back to Bangladesh. Between 6–19 August 2022, the bird was located in Ningxia, China. The next signal came from Assam, India, on 10 September 2022.
Then, it entered Bangladesh. The adventurous and astounding 8,000 km journey from Nijhum Dweep to China and back to Nijhum Dweep met a sad end. Feroze died untimely on 26 September .
GPS tracking birds
A GPS tag is a device that communicates with a satellite to know the location of the device. Using similar technology, we can see locations on Uber or Google Map. GPS tags are often used in wildlife research to answer important zoological questions related to animal movement and behaviour. Such devices have long been used in studies of many animals, including elephants, tigers, lions and bison.
The GPS tag used for Feeroz is specially designed for birds by the Global Messenger Company. Along with GPS, it has altitude and speed sensors. The tag has a small solar panel to charge the tiny battery. All these are encased into a mere 4 grams of package. This tag can send data to our server periodically when it is within a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) mobile network. A tag costs around Tk1.5 lakh but the information obtained through this tiny device has allowed ornithologists to explore many unknown (and priceless) aspects of bird migration.
Ornithologists initially placed aluminium rings on the legs of migratory birds to find out why they suddenly disappeared and where they went. Each ring has a unique identification number so that scientists can know the details of the bird's origin. But understanding the bird's migration through these rings is time-consuming and all this information is available only when the bird is caught or found dead. The chances of receiving data from ringed birds are thus really slim.
First, the scientists thought that if a combination of coloured plastic rings on the bird's leg could be released, it would be easily seen by a bird watcher. It can be easily and quickly known about the presence and movement of the bird.
Bangladesh is uniquely positioned between two flyways of migratory birds: the East Asian-Australasian and Central Asian flyways. Ornithologists from all the countries that make up the East Asian-Australasian Flyway have decided on a different coloured flag for each country. The designated colours for Bangladesh are two yellow flags.
However, the detailed identification of each bird cannot be obtained by using only the yellow flags. That's why some write a combination of alphabets and numbers on the flag. The advantage of this is that the bird's country of origin detailed identity can be known from the researchers. But the disadvantage is that not all birds can be watched very closely, especially shore birds. That's why the combination of alphabets and numbers is not often easy to read.
An alternative is to attach a combination of coloured rings with a designated coloured flag to the leg of a bird so that the bird can be easily identified by colour even when viewed from a distance. But if two researchers from the same country use the same colour combination, they will get confused again. The solution to that is an integrated database.
Tell the East Asian Australasian flight coordinator which colour scheme you want to use and he will check the database to see if anyone else is using it. If someone else uses it, a new combination has to be used. For example, for Bangladesh, I currently use a combination of two yellow flags designated for Bangladesh on one leg of the bird and three coloured (red, blue, lime and yellow only) rings on the other leg.
Later, technological advances in recent decades have made GPS tags lightweight. Studying small animals like bats, rodents and birds with GPS tags have now become possible. For example, Bangladesh Bird Club and IUCN Bangladesh have used GPS tags on migratory ducks for years.
Why Feeroz died
Feeroz was weak. Maybe he had rested for a day or two at Maheshkhali before his scheduled trip to Nijhum Dweep. But the bird was caught on 26 September 2022 in Maheshkhali by a local man, who, perplexed by the colour-coded flags and GPS device, took Feeroz to the local chairman. Chaos soon ensued with the poor bird even having to attend a press conference.
The chairman, who thought the bird was carrying a camera-equipped device, took the matter very seriously and called the Upazila Nirbahi Officer to inform about it. Local and national media picked up the "news" with outlets publishing sensational headlines like 'Unknown bird in Cox's Bazar, digital device strapped on the back'.
Initially, the local administration ordered the bird to be handed over to the Forest Department. But the chairman refused to hand it over to the field staff of the Forest Department. After a whole lot of commotion, the bird was handed over at midnight. But it was too late. Being exhausted in captivity, and shock of the events must have caused the death of Feeroz.
Why researching migratory birds is important for Bangladesh
Birds like Black-tailed Godwit are our friends and guardians. They are like a sentinel always giving early indications about our environment and the health of water bodies, changes and impacts due to seasonal changes and use of water bodies. They give real direction to environmental changes (both good and bad). Therefore, they are very important to understand the changes in the environment.
Godwit is a coal miner's canary bird. Before the modern age of technology, coal miners kept a canary bird in a cage while they worked in the mines. If the canary had become ill, it was a portend to the poisonous air inside the mines. Similarly, godwits are always giving us a message about the environment, surroundings and seasonal changes in large areas including the water bodies of Bangladesh and many countries in Central and East Asia.
South Asia lacks research in bird migration. My PhD research is a small attempt to involve Bangladesh in the study of migratory birds of the world. At the same time, the information provided by migratory birds about the health of the environment, climate change, food security and watershed diversity in Bangladesh is the first step in how to use it for human benefit. Two PhD research in this regard is going on in Bangladesh. One is mine that I am doing at the University of Groningen and another is underway at the University of Cambridge.
What does Feeroz's death tell us?
This death points out the knowledge gap among journalists and the people of Bangladesh about the methods of bird science. It also tells us that there is much to do to establish a stable understanding between men and wildlife and wildlife biologists.
This tragic event calls for more collaboration within the community of wildlife biologists, like they had shown in protesting the safari park plan in Lathitila, Moulvibazar.
Most importantly, stigma related to wildlife conservation and research in the society needs to be addressed intelligently and in an organised manner.
