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Through World Class, we have united two schools across the Brent's migration route and in Tuesday's programme we spoke to Thorbuerk Omasdortish of Alftanes School in Iceland and Emma Patton of Nendrum college in Northern Ireland. Thorbuerk has been following Skywalker and told us the goose had started his migration to arctic Canada but had spent one night atop the 2km high Greenland ice cap. Nendrum, is apparently adopting a different tactic and according to Emma, is still in Iceland.
To get a broader analysis of Skywalker's movements, we turned to our resident migration guru, Professor Colin Pennycuick:
"Skywalker took his time crossing from Iceland to west Greenland, four days in all, including two whole days crossing the ice cap. Apparently the slow northward jink near 67 degrees N was when he was penetrating a front, and then came out into easterly winds on the other side.
Was that luck, I wonder, or did he do it on purpose?
The only segments where Skywalker managed an airspeed over Vmp were after he passed the highest part of the ice cap and came down from 2210 to 1670 m, and also the last segment where he tobogganed down off the ice to the sea shore. My guess is that the low speeds in his case were due to being heavy, and unable to get oxygen fast enough to meet his power requirements. Up on the ice cap his Vmp was higher than down at sea level, meaning that he had to work harder when flying, but could get oxygen at a lower rate, because of the thin air."
Skywalker eventually stopped at a point on the coast opposite Disco Island, which puzzled us because it was not thought to be a feeding area for geese but our sources thought otherwise. Kendrew told us:
"Pictures I’ve had from early June on Disco Island show plenty of grazing places along the coastline. The current ice map shows 0-10% ice cover for a significant strip off W. Greenland so the area isn’t icebound. You’d be surprised at the scraps that these birds sustain themselves on for June-August!"
Dr Tony Fox, from the University of Aarhus confirmed Kendrew's thoughts:
"Kendrew is right, by mid to late May, this coast is completely ice free and the lowlands will be well thawed by now. The coast around Disco Island is highly productive and is indeed a regular staging area for Brents in spring, so I am not the least surprised that Skywalker has put down there. I would not ignore the possibility of gaining fuel quickly either - both the marine and lowland wetland habitats will offer food that can be harvested quickly."
Further Reading:
Next report: Geysir goes missing
Last report: Tagging Skywalker, Nendrum and Geysir in Iceland
If you want to join our school-twinning project, you can request a World Class School Pack
Do Skywalker and Nendrum have enough fuel to make it to arctic Canada? Check their virtual fuel gauges here
Where are they now? Find out on WWT's Top Goose map