Robbie goes AWOL: Tracked bittern with thousands of fans missing in action
Submitted by Chickowee on 13 Apr 2016.
An endangered bittern bird, known as 'Robbie', who was part of a pioneering crowdfunded tracking project, has gone missing and scientists fear he may have come to an untimely death.
Scientists say they have lost contact with the transmitter on the large brown waterbird, who has attracted a large and devoted social media following on his travels across three states of Australia.
There are only about 2,000 or 3,000 Australasian bitterns left in the world, and about a quarter or a third of those breed in the rice crops of southern New South Wales, where Robbie was first tagged.
