The Global Flyway Network (GFN) is a non-profit foundation that seeks to foster and strengthen partnerships between researchers studying the demography and movement ecology of migrant shorebirds across the world. This website provides the latest news about the research conducted by our partners, and enables professionals and laypeople to explore the movements of individually tracked shorebirds.

Using the menu on the left, or scrolling down this page, you can explore tracking data for specific species, projects, flyways, or within a certain radius of your current or a selected location. Please bear with us as we are constantly working to expand and improve our services.

The development of the GFN (website) is led by the BirdEyes Institute for Global Ecological Change of the University of Groningen. more

Tracks of a specific species

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit

Limosa limosaview tracks
Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

Limosa lapponicaview tracks
Red Knot

Red Knot

Calidris canutusview tracks
Eurasian Spoonbill

Eurasian Spoonbill

Platalea leucorodiaview tracks
Eurasian Whimbrel

Eurasian Whimbrel

Numenius phaeopusview tracks
Eurasian Curlew

Eurasian Curlew

Numenius arquataview tracks
Nordmann's Greenshank

Nordmann's Greenshank

Tringa guttiferview tracks

Latest news

TAGGING 2023, BROOME, AUSTRALIA

Usually, the acknowledgements section goes at the end of the report.
Here in Broome the work that happens would never happen without the input of the volunteer team and therefore to us it makes sense to put those volunteers front and centre. The team for Tagging2023 was a mix of volunteer and professionals and here we thank them all.
Adrian Boyle, Charlotte Burgoyne, Dianne Bennett, Fr...

read more

Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) in southern Spain, habitat description and finding colour marked birds from 5 – 13 October 2023

In this expedition from 5 to 13 October 2023 we visited the most important areas for wintering
Black-tailed Godwits in southern Spain. Our aim was to resight individual colour marked birds,
describe the habitats used by godwits and to gain information on threats and opportunities by field
observations and meetings with local experts. In this report we present a daily overview of our
...

read more

Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) in southern Iberia, habitat description and finding colour marked birds from 1 – 26 February 2023

In this expedition from 1 to 26 February 2023 we visited the most important areas for Black-tailed Godwits in southern Spain and Portugal during northward migration. Our aim was to resight individual colour marked birds, describe the habitats godwits used and to gain information on threats and opportunities by field observations and meetings with local experts. In this report we present ...

read more

Tweet @GlobalFlyway - Jun 20, 2023 12:55

Bird eyes & ears: is it a virtue to see & hear attentively, thus sense the state of the world around us; & then speak about it?
We think so, as explained in editorial to #SAHEL-special of @ArdeaJournal with Foreword of @ibrahimthiaw.
"Ground-truthed baseline to Great #GreenWall" https://t.co/pKV0BzLPNP https://t.co/PSsS4rdbJ1

read more

Tweet @GlobalFlyway - Jun 20, 2023 12:37

#SAHEL-special is forworded by @ibrahimthiaw, who grew up here & saw: "how nature could suddenly shift from healthy – full of trees & birds – into barren landscapes."
"I hope that today’s young Sahelians will get to experience the beauty & bounty of this harsh yet hopeful land." https://t.co/9bwfrz3xuO https://t.co/m5tMUIeDsG

read more

Tweet @GlobalFlyway - Jun 20, 2023 12:19

YES! Some of us were lucky enough to receive copies of mighty #SAHEL-special of @ArdeaJournal with >400 pages packed with information on trees & birds & people across the entire zone! Subscribers to @ArdeaJournal will follow soon. Amazing achievement of Zwarts team! @ibrahimthiaw https://t.co/7YflpombaG

read more

Tweet @GlobalFlyway - Jun 20, 2023 09:24

@Ben_Sheldon_EGI @VeenVitaal @RoelandBom @RuthHowison @SisselSjoberg @CampusFryslan @univgroningen @projectgodwit @ParcDiawling @prcmarine @HacenElHacen @BirdLife_Sci It did! Have a look at https://t.co/0k3EIuDNby to see the many tagged black-tailed #godwits that are already underway, many of them failed breeders!

read more

Tweet @GlobalFlyway - Jun 20, 2023 09:16

Black-tailegd #godwit OVERVEEN, tagged by @VeenVitaal, gave away marvels of #migration during #flight from SW Netherlands to Senegal delta. @RoelandBom's quick analysis shows brief stops in Oléron & Donana and daytime climbs to #altitudes of 4-6 km, flying v high across #Sahara! https://t.co/eIcN8yNoUK https://t.co/7Az6WST6y6

read more

Tweet @GlobalFlyway - Jun 18, 2023 14:45

The Dutch and German breeding black-tailed #godwits, #grutto's, #Uferschnepfe have started to cross the #Sahara in southward directions, and for them a period of #moult, feather replacement, begins. It will be busy in the airspace. Interested? Look at: https://t.co/0k3EIuDNby https://t.co/bl5lq74imD https://t.co/SudbNuAc9k

read more

Tweet @GlobalFlyway - Jun 18, 2023 14:39

En OVERVEEN, de eerste @VeenVitaal #grutto is al naar de Senegal Delta getrokken! Ook in WAfrika vertellen grutto's belangrijke verhalen, namelijk over kleinschalige rijstteelt & omgang met water die duurzaam is en gezond voor bodem en mensen.
Volg ze op https://t.co/0d4J38zd7i https://t.co/LeZnAGd79C https://t.co/1wIE6wML7U

read more

Tweet @GlobalFlyway - Jun 15, 2023 13:19

It is fewer than 2 weeks to PhD thesis defence of @DrewBingrun at @univgroningen. The defence can be followed online, his thesis accessed online too. Black-tailed #godwits have yielded a few more of their many secrets through his biometric, genetic, tracking & ecological work. https://t.co/toHjh5U5zy

read more

Recherche sur les limicoles du Banc d’Arguin, Mauritanie

Cette année, c'était notre 21eme expédition hivernale consécutive de recherche sur les limicoles dans le Parc Nationale du Banc d’Arguin. La première expédition a eu lieu en novembre 2002. L'accent de ces expéditions est basé sur la démographie des limicoles et se concentre principalement sur le bécasseau maubèche, la barge rousse et la spatule blanche. Dans le passé, nous ...

read more

Projects with tracks (view projects on map)

Bar-tailed Godwit -- East Atlantic Flyway -- GPS-GSM

35187 deployed locations

view tracks

Bar-tailed Godwit -- East Atlantic Flyway -- PTT

48461 deployed locations

view tracks

Bar-tailed Godwit migration, New Zealand

38161 deployed locations

Determine how godwits use the Yellow Sea region on northward migration in the face of habitat degradation and catastrophic food supply loss. This is a collaboration involving the Global Flyway Network, Birds NZ, Massey University and Birds Canada.

read more ↓
view tracks

Black-tailed Godwit Iberia - NL 2019

98131 deployed locations

Btg caught in Portugal 8-01-2019.


view tracks

Black-tailed Godwit NL 2021 Microwave

2522 deployed locations

view tracks

Black-tailed Godwits -- VeenVitaal

12160 deployed locations

view tracks

Black-tailed Godwits Extremadura (HQXS)

10235 deployed locations

Oxidative stress during energetically demanding states and its transgenerational consequences in migrants (OXISTRESS)


view tracks

Black-tailed godwits NL South Holland

5086 deployed locations

In nature reserve De Nesse and Berkenwoude of Zuid-Hollands Landschaps and agricultural area management by Agrarisch Collectief Krimpenerwaard measures were taken to improve the habitat of waders, such as the black-tailed godwits. Previous studies show that the number of waders increase, however do they also succeed in raising chicks successfully? By tracking families we will be able to determine the breeding success, but most importantly learn more about the habitat use during the chick phase.

read more ↓
view tracks

Duemmer Adult Godwits_2018

17067 deployed locations

view tracks

Duemmer Adult Godwits_2019

15400 deployed locations

view tracks

Duemmer Adult Godwits_2020

20564 deployed locations

view tracks

Duemmer Adult Godwits_2021

19815 deployed locations

view tracks

Duemmer Godwit Chicks_2018

5998 deployed locations

view tracks

Duemmer Godwit Chicks_2021

12870 deployed locations

view tracks

Eurasian Spoonbill - Lok - Netherlands 2019-2023

1895222 deployed locations

For background information about the project, see https://www.nioz.nl/en/expertise/wadden-delta-research-centre/expertise-wadden/birds/how-do-migratory-birds-find-their-way

read more ↓
view tracks

GrassBirdHabitats Adult Godwits_2022

31346 deployed locations

view tracks

GrassBirdHabitats Adult Godwits_2023

101674 deployed locations

view tracks

hand-raised juveniles 2016

25533 deployed locations

view tracks

Migratlane [ID_PROG 1275]

1940459 deployed locations

tracking seabirds and terrestrial migrants to identify foraging, resting, dispersal and migratory pathways to advise offshore wind farm planning in the Channel and East Atlantic, off France

read more ↓
view tracks

Nordmann's Greenshank - Global Messenger - Thailand

3950 deployed locations

view tracks

Nordmann's Greenshank - Lotek PinPoint 75- Thailand

114 deployed locations

Tracking Nordmann's Greenshank from SE Asia (Thailand) using Lotek PinPoint 75s


view tracks

Red Knot New Zealand-China

2674 deployed locations

This project aims to clarify the stopover sites used by Red Knots between New Zealand an their Russian breeding grounds. Geolocator work has identified stopovers on both migration directions in either the Gulf of Carpentaria or Papua New Guinea, along the Chinese coast and in the Sea of Okhotsk and Kamchatka Peninsula, but analuyses were equivocal about which sites (or even countries) were being used. This study, using satellite telemetry, aims to identity with certainty the sites used.

read more ↓
view tracks

Red Knot Vici Van Gils

9111 deployed locations

view tracks

SPOONBILL_WAAKVOGELS - Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia, Threskiornithidae) from the breeding population in The Netherlands

519773 deployed locations

view tracks

Teampiersma HQXS 2023

16601 deployed locations

view tracks

TeampiersmaBD_Limosa limosa

37246 deployed locations

view tracks

Waders Tanga Tanzania

96008 deployed locations

From 15 to 27 January 2023 an international team of experts from Tanzania, Kenya and The Netherlands started the Tanga Wader project in the coastal area of Mwarongo, Tanga, Northern Tanzania, with the objective to deploy transmitters on a number of target bird species in order to obtain information about local habitat use and migration towards the breeding areas. This information helps understand the dependence of these birds on habitats and stop-over sites during migration and will create awareness of the importance of connectivity along the West Asian East African Flyway. 583 birds of 18 species were caught amongst which 200 of 4 target species. All birds were ringed and in addition, all target species were colour-ringed. 54 birds were fitted with a transmitter, using a range of transmission techniques to optimize the chances of obtaining a mix of detailed and continuous information about the whereabouts of the birds. Three months after transmitter deployment already a wealth of data has been gathered on the local habitat use by the birds and migration has started with the a number of birds demonstrating intriguing migration trajectories (situation April 2023).

read more ↓
view tracks

Whimbrel -- East Atlantic Flyway -- PTT

29341 deployed locations

view tracks

WWF-Hong Kong migratory bird tracking

16603 deployed locations

WWF-Hong Kong believes as problems grow in scale and complexity, we need future solutions and a creative multi-pronged approach to secure the future of wetlands and the iconic species that depend on it. With generous donation from HSBC, WWF-Hong Kong has launched the Wetland Incubator project to find conservation solutions for future thriving flyways. We aim at using tracking devices as a tool to investigate migration of shorebird species in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. To learn more about project: https://www.wwf.org.hk/en/wetlands/mai-po/wetland_incubator/

read more ↓
view tracks