My decision to get a GPS was based on being able to send someone else to a
specific location AND, more important, to get back to where I started my
trek from!!

This point was driven home in Australia when birding in an area of mulga
(about 15 foot high multistemmed bushlike eucalyptus). The area isn't flat
but has very small rolling hills. Under a cloudy (no sun) sky you cannot
orient to direction -- north,east, etc. This is quite close to the
Arctic "whiteout". No problems with vertigo as under instrument flight
situations in clouds because you have the ground and trees to orient
yourself. But which way back to the 'track' and your vehicle is a serious
issue. I decided that if I stepped off a trail in a forest or any area
that I was not comfortable with, that I would set a fix in the GPS before
bushwhacking. When I went to Hokkaido (Japan) I had close to whiteout
conditions a number of times that abated and so never felt threatened. But
it was nice to know that I 'could go home again'!

Nothing is foolproof and I would like to think of the GPS as an aide not a
crutch.

The currently available GPS units (mine is a Garmin) are pretty darn
accurate. I had a chance to compare it with a couple of units used in
aviation (and much more expensive) and was amazed at its accuracy. In New
Guinea the MAF (Mission Aviation Fleet -- that's close if not correct)
use GPS to locate the little jungle airstrips and they swear by (poor
choice of words!) them.

Diann, I don't know how you could use them in bird movement telemetry but
perhaps someone from WDFW could elucidate.

Also, anyone that gets one of these should re-familiarize themselves with
it from time to time. It is amazing, confusing and frustrating and some of
the instruction books lack coherence!! When you play with, get a good fix
and walk briskly down a sidewalk and watch it record your track and speed.
Stop, turn and watch how quickly it responds. Then out of curiosity, swing
it back and forth (normal arm swing) while walking and watch the speed
display shift!! Pretty impressive for little satellites in the sky!

Bob
Federal Way, WA
taylorrt at foxinterent.net
----------
> From: Diann MacRae <tvulture at halcyon.com>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: GPS
> Date: Sunday, January 11, 1998 4:09 PM
>
>
> Dear Robert and all,
>
> I would also like to know uses for a GPS in relation to birding. I
bought
> myself one for Christmas, but still haven't gotten out to use it. I know
> they can be used in nest surveys, i.e., to refind nests on successive
> trips. I would think they might be used somehow in locating telemetry
> birds, i.e. in population/migration studies, but I don't know. Any
> information would be most welcome.
>
> Diann MacRae, Bothell, tvulture at halcyon.com