Hi Tweeters,
The SCPP is continuing. Three of the GPS satellite-tagged peregrines left their presumed breeding areas in the Arctic and Sub-arctic last month and are proceeding south (albeit at varying rates).
Seven was observed with several young at a nest site near Paulatuk just south of the Arctic Ocean this summer. At last signal, he was heading out over the Gulf of Mexico, apparently en route towards Padre Island, Texas.
Sparrow King, another adult male from Chile, left the southern tip of Baffin Island just a short time ago and flew over the ocean and on to the St. Lawrence River. And this is very remarkable to me. Last night he slept within 400 meters of the world famous Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in PA on the Kittatinny Ridge. And they (Keith Bildstein and Mike McGrady) had funded his transmitter! What are the odds?
Arena, the first bird to return north, had a transmitter failure back in July. We received several anomalous signals and then the transmitter failed. We tried to get someone to the site but were unable to. However, each of the transmitters has a mortality sensor that will go off if there is no movement within two days. We never got one of those signals. So we'll be looking for her in Chile this November.
Another one of the falcons (La Serena) remained in Chile and is a resident cassini peregrine. Our Chilean colleagues, lead by Christian Gonzalez, found her breeding at a site near the town of La Serena. This was the first time that a peregrine eyrie had been located by transmitter in South America. Her signals have been removed from the Google Earth maps to protect the location of her nest but she is currently incubating eggs.
The other two falcons are juveniles that were also Chilean residents and they are flying around the areas where we tagged them last February.
I am here in Kapuskasing, Ontario, sitting in a snowstorm, about 235 miles south of the last bird, Linda, who left her breeding area on 20 September. I am attempting to follow her back down to Chile by truck, but she is definitely taking her own sweet time. With luck, I'll be posting reports all along the way. You can follow the progress of these birds (and me too...our truck, Lula Belle, is the little white marker) every day at www.frg.org. Click on Field Research, then Southern Cross and choose your bird.
Our remarkable website and tracking maps have been put together by Don McCall and Mark Prostor, our FRG resident geniuses.

Bud Anderson
Falcon Research Group
Box 248
Bow, WA 98232
(360) 757-1911
bud at frg.org