betsy
05-04-2007, 01:07 PM
Found this on texbirds -- I expect it will appeal to Richard, aka turtleman, and any other Peregrine & raptor fans, not to mention migration fans.
The Falcon Research Group is tracking seven Peregrines -- five that they were sure are members of the most migratory North American subspecies, Falco peregrinus tundrius, and two that might have been those or else members of a non-migratory subspecies. One of those two has been migrating, though, so at least six are apparently F. p. tundrius subspecies.
These birds winter on the coast of Chile and breed in Canada and Alaska. To track their migration routes and timing, each bird has been fitted with a backpack containing a GPS locator/transmitter. The females are large enough to also carry a small solar panel to power their units, so their GPS units transmit their coordinates three times a day. The males aren't large enough to carry a solar panel, so they have a small battery and transmit their locations only once every day or so.
Maps showing their paths so far, blogs, the project summary and so forth are available here:
http://www.frg.org/SC_PEFA.htm
Four of the birds are on the move so far -- look in the upper left part of this page to see which ones are where. (None of them have reached the US yet.) Click on one of their names in the table lower on the page to see the migration map for that bird.
The Falcon Research Group is tracking seven Peregrines -- five that they were sure are members of the most migratory North American subspecies, Falco peregrinus tundrius, and two that might have been those or else members of a non-migratory subspecies. One of those two has been migrating, though, so at least six are apparently F. p. tundrius subspecies.
These birds winter on the coast of Chile and breed in Canada and Alaska. To track their migration routes and timing, each bird has been fitted with a backpack containing a GPS locator/transmitter. The females are large enough to also carry a small solar panel to power their units, so their GPS units transmit their coordinates three times a day. The males aren't large enough to carry a solar panel, so they have a small battery and transmit their locations only once every day or so.
Maps showing their paths so far, blogs, the project summary and so forth are available here:
http://www.frg.org/SC_PEFA.htm
Four of the birds are on the move so far -- look in the upper left part of this page to see which ones are where. (None of them have reached the US yet.) Click on one of their names in the table lower on the page to see the migration map for that bird.