Of course, many waterfowl species migrate, or fly south, for the cold winter months, and so there are plenty of highly-monitored areas where birds nest for the winter as well. Ducks Unlimited is also looking to closely monitor the Pantanal region of Brazil, the largest freshwater wetland in the world. Amazingly, some North American birds travel all the way down to the Pantanal to winter, making it an important region to study. Keeping Track of Canada Geese Understanding waterfowl migration patterns is of great importance to researchers at Ducks Unlimited, because the patterns help determine where, exactly, these animals live, and what resources they need. In fact, Ducks Unlimited has undertaken yet another space project aimed at finding out exactly where one particular type of waterfowl, the Canada goose, migrates throughout the year.
Space satellites can track migration patterns of Canada geese outfitted with radio transmitters.
Starting last fall, the organization began tracking a small population of Greenland and Newfoundland geese, which were outfitted with radio transmitters and tracked from space. Currently on their way back north from their wintering grounds, these birds will be joined by a new batch this summer, and will be monitored for one more year of migration. This is very much an unknown population of birds. One satellite that Ducks Unlimited is hoping to work with is the new Ikonos satellite, which has an extremely high resolution multispectral mapping instrument on board. Landsat s Thematic Mapper is 30-meter spatial resolution.