15 November 2011

Actually, she got home last Saturday.

Island Girl is an arctic peregrine who nests every summer on Baffin Island, Canada.  Then, at the autumn equinox on almost the same day in September every year, she leaves for her winter home at Putu on the Chilean coast.

We know she makes this journey because in 2009 the Falcon Research Group’s Southern Cross Peregrine Project outfitted her with a satellite transmitter.  Since then they’ve followed her travels via satellite and plotted them on the web, a trip of 8,628 miles.

This year Island Girl changed her southbound route from an East Coast trajectory via Florida and the Yucatan to a slightly westward path over Lake Superior to the Gulf Coast at Mississippi.  When she encountered headwinds over the Gulf of Mexico she roosted on offshore oil rigs, then flew west to Texas and continued south.  Some days she rested, especially during bad weather.  On other days she pressed homeward, covering more than 200 miles.  From start to finish Island Girl traveled for 53 days — and this is considered a leisurely pace!

Now she’s back in Putu surveying her domain.  Her favorite sandspit island is still gone, destroyed by the February 2010 tsunami, but she has many other options.  Her satellite GPS unit is so accurate that SCPP is able to tell where she roosts.

Island Girl is the last peregrine in the project with a working transmitter.  In February 2012 the Falcon Research Group will travel to Chile to capture two more arctic peregrines and outfit them with tracking devices.

You used to be able to read about their work and Island Girl’s journey on the Southern Cross Peregrine Project’s blog but …

NOTE(*) SEPTEMBER 2021: The Southern Cross Peregrine Project and Falcon Research Group websites no longer exist. Seven years later it is no longer possible to follow this peregrine… if she exists.

(photo of Island Girl from the Southern Cross Peregrine Project)