Trials and Lessons Learnt in Three Seasons of Attempting to Study the Movements of Saddle-Billed Storks in Zambia

Abstract

We initiated a telemetry study on the Saddle-billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) in western Zambia in 2019 to address knowledge gaps about spatial ecology. As the first such field study on the species, we encountered multiple challenges in attempting to capture free-ranging storks, including limitations in manpower and trapping techniques. In three field trips, we captured and deployed transmitters on only three storks. All transmitters have since failed, and the longest one transmitted data was for only five months, during which we recorded a dispersal event into Angola and back to its natal area. Our work has painstakingly demonstrated that field techniques are not always transferable between species and study systems, and that initiating work on an unstudied species has unforeseen difficulties.