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Eleven red-breasted geese fitted with satellite transmitters in northern Kazakhstan

Red-breasted goose resting in tundra vegetation in Taimyr Reserve
Conservation · Management

Eleven wild red-breasted geese (Branta ruficollis) were fitted with satellite transmitters in northern Kazakhstan during spring migration in 2026. SaveBranta reported the fieldwork on 21 May after a joint team from the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan and M. Kozybayev North Kazakhstan University completed the capture and tagging.

Satellite telemetry records repeated positions from the same marked birds over time. The 11 transmitters are intended to reveal migration routes, stopover ecology, habitat use, survival and the locations of important staging and wintering areas. As the tracks accumulate, last known positions and changes in movement can also help identify possible mortality hotspots and areas where illegal killing may need closer investigation. These are objectives of the tracking programme; the 21 May report did not yet present migration results from the newly tagged birds.

Northern Kazakhstan is one of the most important spring staging regions for the global red-breasted goose population. Large numbers gather there to rest and feed before continuing towards their Arctic breeding grounds, making the region a key link in the species’ migration flyway.

Satellite tagging is listed as a priority conservation measure in the work plan of the AEWA Red-breasted Goose International Working Group. The 2026 fieldwork forms part of wider international efforts to identify and protect important sites across the species’ migration route.

Sources and image credit

  1. SaveBranta. (2026, May 21). Successful tagging of 11 Red-breasted Geese in Northern Kazakhstan supports international flyway conservation.Primary project report confirming that 11 wild red-breasted geese were fitted with satellite transmitters in northern Kazakhstan by ACBK and M. Kozybayev North Kazakhstan University and describing the migration, habitat-use, survival and threat-monitoring objectives.

Image: Igor Nikolaevich Pospelov / Wikimedia Commons — wild red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis) in Taimyr Reserve, Russia. Illustrative photograph, not one of the birds fitted with satellite transmitters in Kazakhstan. · CC BY-SA 3.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ · Source

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