Hot news (Wednesday 13th August 2003)
The storks haven't officially got their names, but one of them started its way to winter-grounds. The huge male that we marked at the nest near Malyshev was 620 kilometers southsouthwest from the nesting place tonight, in the eastern part of Kazakh highlands (Kazahskij melkosopocnik). We do not know the exact time of its departure as the battery transmitter was last active on 10th August night - and at that time he was still on the nest. It's also hard to say which way he's going to fly - now he's approaching Tan-San but it would do if he turned slightly west to avoid the high mountains. Anyway, it starts to be exciting...
To tell the truth, we did not hope the storks could start their way so soon. This morning, I logged in just to make sure we don't lose the data of birds' movements on their nesting places. But apart from the joy of the male flying south, one disappointment waited for me. The stork we marked as the first (a male - hot candidate for the Suzun name), did not send no new data. It's early to make any consequences but I am afraid that his solar transmitter fails to work... We'll see in the next days.
Finally, the third stork, a female, is still at the nesting place.