Migration: Peregrines / Island Girl

[The Peregrine Chick]

Nice timing IG - a sub-par signal but enough of a signal to let folks you arrived home safely!!

If her battery & transmitter do go kerflewie, we know she got home at least which is wonderful considering how long we've been watching her.  But it will be weird not to know where she is or what she is doing next spring ....

[Alison]

Island Girl is home!

I was worried about her, because the last location posted on the map was from November 17, but this morning there is one more entry. She arrived at her winter home in Chile yesterday. I am so happy for her, and wish her a safe, enjoyable winter and a safe return in the spring.

What a wonderful, incredible peregrine she is!  She has now travelled 8,491 miles.



The final details of her journey:



The blog entry, from Donald McCall:

22 November, 2016

Island Girl Has Completed Her Southbound Migration

As Island Girl was approaching Valparaiso, Chile on the last leg of her southern migration, we lost all contact with her for approximately 5 days.  Usually this is a bad sign, because temporary outages due to a depleted battery in her backpack have always in the past resolved themselves after two or three days, with at least occasional data being received even if it's not of sufficient quality to publish on a web map. By the third or fourth day we began to fear that her backpack transmitter had failed, or worse (the batteries have never before lasted more than two years or so, so eight years has already been extremely exceptional).  But, amazingly, we received one more sub-standard data point early this morning, but it was good enough to indicate that Island Girl has reached her southern home range near Putu on the Pacific Coast of Chile.

Whether her transmitter and battery will regain full functionality, enabling us to track her next northbound migration in April, is an open question.  For now, all is well.

[Alison]

The most recent map update, from November 17, shows Island Girl in Chile. She has now covered a distance of 8,308 miles.



The three most recent blog entries, from Donald McCall:

12 November, 2016

At the "Arica Bend"

Island Girl’s shortcut yesterday (in the region of South America known to geographers as the “Arica Elbow”, or "Arica Bend") took her over the Pacific Ocean for 371 km (231 mi) before returning to land in southern Peru.  She appears to have made landfall in the vicinity of Ito, although it must be remembered that we have only a few GPS locations every day and the route that Island Girl actually follows to connect those dots is, by default, shown as straight lines on the maps but her exact route between the dots is unknown.  For example, she might have returned to the coast considerably north of Ito and then followed the shoreline to Ito, and the map would look exactly the same.

By late morning today, Island Girl was on the move again, following the coast, and was 86 km (53 mi) from the Chilean border.

Here's an interesting article about the geology of the Arica Bend. Apparently the land north of Arica is slowly rotating counterclockwise, and the land south of Arica is rotating clockwise, resulting in the bent coastline (and the entire Andes chain, for that matter):  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040195198000584

14 November, 2016

Heading For Home

Island Girl is now in Chile and following the Pacific coastline south, currently passing through the barren Atacama Desert, typically roosting at night hundreds of meters above sea level but only a few kilometers from the ocean. She is about halfway between Iquique and Antofagasta, and about 1450 km (900 mi) from her final destination.

17 November, 2016

Approaching Valparaiso

Island Girl has flown 1200 km (746 mi) in the past three days, averaging 400 km (249 mi) per day as she has followed Chile's Pacific Coast southward, roosting at night in the high desert foothills of the Andes just a few kilometers from the ocean - although last night she roosted near some coastal dunes adjacent to the Petorca River north of Valparaiso. She is now 296 km (184 mi) from her final destination at the Putu Dunes just north of Constitución, and will most likely complete her migration within a day or two.

[Alison]

By November 6, Island Girl was in Ecuador and approaching the border of Peru. So far, she had travelled 6,041 miles.



The associated blog entry, from Donald McCall:

6 November, 2016

Approaching Peru

Over the past three days Island Girl has moved from the higher ground of the western foothills and fringes of the Andes down into the coastal lowlands of Ecuador, still a few hundred meters (1000 feet, more or less) above sea level and some distance inland.  She has been roosting overnight in mixed agricultural/forested areas and generally staying close to rivers, at least overnight. She spent last night in the southwestern corner of Ecuador, not far from the border of Peru which, at this location, is both west and south of her.

This is close to the spot where Island Girl roosted last year on 01 November, so she's now about 5 days behind last year's schedule, which is a typical variation from year to year.

[Alison]

October 18, 2016

Island Girl continues on her purposeful track south, making her way along the coast around the Gulf of Mexico in a leisurely manner and stopping here and there for several days. She has now covered 4,133 miles.



The most recent blog entry from Donald McCall:

17 October, 2016

Island Girl is in Southern Mexico and Headed for Guatemala

After following the Gulf Coast of Mexico until just past Veracruz, Island Girl has now moved inland, and to higher ground, as she continues southeast through the state of Chiapas, Mexico toward Guatemala. She traveled 322 km (200 mi) on Sunday, remaining north of the Sierra Madres, and roosted in a forested area last night at an elevation of 1198 m (3931 ft). She was 200 km (124 mi) from the Guatemala border.

This is her usual and most direct route through southern Mexico and Central America, which she will probably follow through Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua before reaching the Caribbean Coast in Costa Rica.

[Alison]

Island Girl has continued her southern migration. The site was down for some days, but came back online.

From October 8; by then she had travelled 3,118 miles.



And the relevant blog entry, from Donald McCall:

08 October, 2016

Island Girl Has Almost Reached Mexico

Island Girl followed the Texas coastline for 333 km (207 mi) yesterday (Friday, 7 October), and nearly reached Mexico.  Her southwesterly course took her farther inland by the end of the day;  she roosted last night in the town of Pharr, 11 km from the Rio Grande (and Mexico), and 100 km (62 mi) west of South Padre Island and the Gulf of Mexico.  Google Earth shows her location to be a small strip mall, where the tallest nearby object appears to be a large billboard (visible on Google Street View).

[The Peregrine Chick]

I found an interesting article on an eagle website about how they may use barometric pressure to navigate during migration.  I suppose this would apply to peregrines as well. 

I've wondered about this - if it is barometric pressure that answers how they get around storms and take advantage of weather fronts to move fast but a) where do they know where to go generally and b) specifically why such a huge range in where our birds go? One of our birds remained in Winnipeg all winter for many years, another spent time in Iowa (ack it was Iowa or a state further north), others have gone to Mexico (all over Mexico), others have gone to or via Florida to the islands and another made it all the way to Brazil. Why not just keep flying as far south as the Tundra birds like Island Girl? Glad they don't go all the way north like she does but I'd love to know how they know ... though the mystery of it is pretty cool as well.

[Dagny]

I found an interesting article on an eagle website about how they may use barometric pressure to navigate during migration.  I suppose this would apply to peregrines as well.  Note: this is aimed at schoolkids.

https://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/eagle/WeatherBarometer.html

[The Peregrine Chick]

I'm curious and concerned. Will hurricane Matthew have some effect on the migration? TPC?

Birds (all birds) have to be good at reading changes in barametric pressure if they plan to survive given that they live in flight.  It is entirely possible that NA's birds knew about  Matthew long before we did.  As for Island Girl I would expect her to tuck down out of the hurricane's path if it is between her and Chile.  Otherwise I would expect her to head west as Matthew is heading northeast.  Just because she (or other migrating peregrines) have a preferred route doesn't mean they aren't  perfectly capable of changing their plans en-route.

[GCG]

I'm curious and concerned. Will hurricane Matthew have some effect on the migration? TPC?

[The Peregrine Chick]

You Go (Island) Girl! 
Never fails to impress how far these birds travel every year - heck some days even.
They are very appropriately named that's for sure.

[Alison]

The first blog post for this year's southern migration, posted by Donald McCall:

Island Girl Begins Her 2016 Southbound Migration

Island Girl began her 2016 southern migration, the eighth one that we've tracked, on 17 September this year, a few days sooner than usual. Data reception was spotty during the first few days because her backpack solar-rechargeable battery had been depleted, probably because of cloud cover or stormy weather. She didn't cover a lot of distance during the first few days, either, moving slowly southwest across the Ungava Peninsula of northern Quebec after crossing Hudson Strait from Baffin Island. By 28 September she had passed through Quebec and the southeastern corner of Ontario, and crossed into Michigan. She often covers greater distances each day when passing through the central United States (in either direction), and this year was no exception. Over the next three days of flying, through late afternoon Friday (30 Sep), she traversed upper Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, and most of Arkansas, and was approaching Louisiana and heading for the Gulf Coast. She had covered 1299 km (807 mi) in those three days, and 3897 km (2422 mi) since leaving Baffin Island.

In four of the past five years she has followed this approximate route to the Gulf Coast in south central Louisiana and then flown southwest across the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall at various places in Mexico or the southern tip of Texas. 2014 was similar except in that year she departed from northern Florida, not Louisiana.  By contrast, in the first 2 years that we tracked her (2009 and 2010), Island Girl departed from the tip of Florida and crossed the Gulf via Cuba, so this might represent a permanent change from her earlier routes.  We have no idea how old Island Girl is, or how many times she made this migration before we started tracking her.

http://frgroup.frg.org/2016/10/island-girl-began-her-2016-southern.html

[Alison]

October 2, 2016

Island Girl has now travelled 2,631 miles, and has almost reached the Gulf of Mexico. I will be very interested to see whether she travels along the coast or decides to cross the Gulf.

[The Peregrine Chick]

on the map Alison provided that almost looks halfway back home (or other home?) to Chile but if I recall she does about 6K miles each way - unless this year she's choosing a very direct route will be interesting to see if she follows the coast or hops makes a beeline for the Mexican peninsula across the Gulf.

Thanks for keeping an eye on Isand Girl - you are right she really is a wonderful bird to "watch"!

[Alison]

As of September 29, Island Girl has already travelled 2,156 miles! She really is a remarkable falcon.



Map from the Southern Cross Peregrine Project.