Volunteers from the Novosibirsk Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre wanted to use a GPS tracker to follow migrating eagles around the world and find out where the birds were landing and staying for longer periods of time. The Russian researchers also wanted to know whether the birds reached safe locations by looking at satellite photographs based on the location data. The eagle is an endangered species and high-voltage cables in particular can pose a great danger to them. The research should contribute to increasing the survival chances of eagles.

13 eagles were equipped with GPS trackers and set off on their journey from Kazakhstan and southern Russia. One of the eagles, named Min, chose a scenic route across the steppe, one of the few places in the world where even a GPS tracker cannot reach. Min remained out of range all summer, but when the eagle arrived in Iran, the researchers suddenly got in touch with the eagle: all at once, the eagle sent hundreds of text messages with the data of where the bird had been all this time.

The text messages from Iran cost 69 euro cents, much more expensive than those from Kazakhstan, which cost only 20 euro cents. Because of the text messages from Min, the tracking budget that was also intended for the other 12 birds was completely used in one go. To be able to continue with the research, the scientists started a crowdfunding campaign, where people could deposit money on the bird's phone number. It turned out that people felt sorry for the scientists, because they collected 3900 euros, which was enough to continue the research. The Russian provider Megafone also came to the aid of the researchers: the scientists did not have to pay for the text messages from Iran and they lowered the text message rate.