This is jumping the gun a wee bit as none of the Alberta (to my knowledge & snooping) have returned yet, but thought y'all might be interested in this old article I found from the U of A Folio collection - its about Ms Edmonton/Homeless/TG .... Had to snag it from a cached version as the original can't be accessed (could in Jan, just not now).
U of A falcon wintering in South America
U of A Folio News Story - 4 November 2005
The female peregrine falcon that nests on the Clinical Sciences Building is now sunning herself in Colombia, according to tracking data supplied by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS). According to Geoff Hurly, associate director of operations and energy management, the falcon left Edmonton sometime after Oct. 12. By Oct. 18, she was about 100 km northwest of Houston, Texas, and by Oct. 23, she was somewhere near Tikal, Guatemala. At last check, she was 200 km north of Medellin, Colombia.
"Her speed of migration has been pretty impressive," said Gordon Court, a biologist with Alberta Fish and Wildlife. "She did 2,900 km in four days. Right now she's just drifting south looking for a good place to winter, which means mainly a good place where lots of prey are concentrated."
After a scrap with another female last summer, the falcon was fitted with a satellite transmitter while being rehabilitated by U of A falcon researcher Dr. Alastair Franke. Franke, whose own research focuses on peregrines in Rankin Inlet, NWT, suggested to CWS researcher Geoff Holroyd that he might find the tracking data useful, because Holroyd follows the migration pattern of falcons. One reason for tracking the falcons, said Court, is to find out where they are picking up pesticide residue.
"If we had enough of these birds marked and were able to take tissues from either their bodies or the eggs they lay when they come back in the spring, we could identify parts of South and Central America where they wintered and find out how dirty they really are," said Court, who works closely with Holroyd and Franke.
Pesticide contamination, particularly from DDT, drove peregrines to the brink of extinction several decades ago. In 1970, there was only one known pair in Alberta. Because DDT use has declined over the past few decades, however, the species has made a strong recovery and have been delisted from endangered to threatened.
"They will be reassessed next year and may be taken off the threatened list as well if they continue to improve," said Court, adding that there are now about 52 known pairs in the province and five in Edmonton - one nesting on the downtown Telus building, one at Inland Cement in the west end, one on an Imperial Oil flaring stack at 34th St. and Baseline Rd., a new pair on Saskatchewan Drive west of 109 St. and our own pair here on campus.
Despite the recovery, says Court, peregrines are still picking up DDT and other organo-chlorine pollutants when they migrate south. "One of the birds we had a radio on went to Mazatlan and nested in a very intensive agricultural situation where they were growing tomatoes. She was quite heavily laden with DDT residue."
The U of A falcon will likely return in March or early April, says Court, and there is a good chance she will try to reclaim her Clinical Sciences nest, where the ongoing drama will likely continue. "She may find the male she was paired with last year has another female, and it gets quite violent. But usually the bird that's been there the year before is successful in retaking the territory," he said.
