2012 - Kinderchicklets / Graduation, Fledgling's Names & Backpacks

[The Peregrine Chick]

I'm going to answer this questions here for some of our other Young Fans even though I did visit with the Kinderchicklets (and Skye in Grade 1) on Wednesday.


McDermot's backpack is a satellite transmitter which is a bit like a cellphone.  Every few hours, a satellite up in space calls McDermot's backpack to find out where McDermot is. It doesn't make noise or anything and McDermot can't tell, but the satellite calls the backpack and the antennae helps backpack to hear the phone call.  The satellite then leaves a voicemail message for the researcher.  Then the researcher "phones" the satellite and picks up the voicemail messages.  It costs alot of money for the researcher to call the satellite, so they only call every couple of days.  But when the satellite calls McDermot's backpack, it is a free call, McDermot doesn't have to pay anything!

The backpack is black on the top because inside the backpack there is a battery so the backpack has power to talk to the satellite - and the black part on top is a small solar panel to recharge the battery.  If the battery couldn't recharge itself, it would wear out in a couple of days and the satellite couldn't call the backpack anymore.  And if you tried to use a bigger battery, it would weigh too much and McDermot wouldn't be able to fly. It would be like a Kinderchicklet trying to pick up their Mummy or Daddy - much too heavy.  If you count out 7 or 8 dimes, and hold them in your hand, that's how much the backpack weighs - not very much at all, which is important because even though peregrines look big, they are mostly all feathers and they don't weigh very much at all.

Sometimes the packpacks stop working, like toys at home or the tv or a car.  If it breaks, then the satellite can't call the packpack anymore.  If it stops working then when we (or someone else like us who watches over peregrines) will try to catch him and take his backpack off.  If the packpack doesn't get broken, it will tell the researcher where McDermot goes during the winter and next summer and the winter after that and the summer after that and then maybe, where McDermot might find a lady friend and have a chicks of his own.  Kinda cool.

The Peregrine Chick

[Kinderchick]

The Kinderchicklets graduated from Kindergarten this morning. On the table at the front of the room sat their little treasure box full of coins that they have collected for the Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project. Some of the grandmas and grandpas even gave their grandchildren of few more coins to add. Not sure yet of our final total but will let you all know by Friday, which is their last day of school.

The Kinderchicklets are just a wee bit sad that they can no longer see the fledglings in the nest box at the Radisson, but are still happy to be able to watch the Brandon chicks on the webcam. A few families have said that they may just take their children downtown next week, to see if they can locate a peregrine falcon. Perhaps we have a few new fledge watchers in waiting.

I have told the Kinderchicklets the names of the chicks and they think they sound like pretty nice names. They especially like Jubilee's name, since they have a picture of Queen Elizabeth hanging in their classroom. And they like Hart's name since that is the name of one of the other teacher's at our school. And for some reason, they also really like Fleet's name, just because it rhymes with "feet". LOL!

Just before  Jubilee & McDermot fledged the other day, the 'chicklets were lucky enough to see McDermot's little backpack with the antennae sticking out of it. They thought it was really cool and really interesting that someone is going to be able to keep track of where he is going, even when he decides to fly south for the winter. They were, however, very curious about how it works. So that is their question today... Just how exactly does that little tracking device in McDermot's backpack work?