Quest Still Wandering
Quest's movements from April 4-13
Quest continued her restless movements over the past week, covering several hundred miles. She went as far east as Portland, Maine, and as far west as Toronto. She’s covered two Canadian provinces (Ontario & Quebec) and two states (Maine and Vermont) in the US.
That’s quite a road trip for our plucky Peregrine. There’s no indication that she’s about to settle down, though she has returned to the Lennox power station a few times during April. It could be that she’s on the hunt for a mate, or maybe she’s just infected with a bad case of wanderlust. Trying to understand all of her behavior based only on where she’s going (or where she’s been, depending on how you look at it), is a bit of a murky task. Still, this glimpse into her life is welcome, however limited it might be.
April 15th, 2010 at 2:03 PM
Portland, Oregon? Wow! That would be a plucky Peregrine!
Portland, Maine perhaps?
April 15th, 2010 at 2:30 PM
I’m just glad for the knowledge that Quest is providing the dedicated people who care about migratory behavior. She is one further fact in the database that predators don’t necessarily follow the seasonal migration. I know when I started this that I just assumed peregrines, as befitting their name, migrated, but know we know better.
As they say, knowledge is power, and hopefully, the powers-that-be will use the knowledge provided by Quest and the other birds for good.
Larry O
April 15th, 2010 at 5:48 PM
I agree with Larry. Quest is a huge success. So far, she has lived longer than other transmitter’d birds, hasn’t yet lost the transmitter, the transmitter is still functioning, and she even has her own “ground crew” who keep cameras and eyes tuned to her presence on occasion. I’m sure that her movements and the visual reports of her behaviors yield valuable information to folks who study her peregrinations. Congratulations and thanks to all involved in Quest’s quests.
April 15th, 2010 at 7:24 PM
She’s certainly living up to name ‘wanderer’! How wonderful and we get to enjoy watching her explore the world. Happy to see she is keeping herself safe!
April 16th, 2010 at 10:49 AM
Quest has only lived longer than other transmittered birds from Rochester, mary.
Other birds with transmitters have lived about a decade with transmitters. Prinzesschen lived a natural life cycle with hers from 1994 to 2007! Of course, the transmitters had to be changed from time to time, meaning the birds needed to be caught and re-fitted – but it did not seem to harm them any.
I sure wish Quest would find a mate and settle down in Lennox where we know there are folks to look after her and hers. However, there seems to be a dearth of males in NA 🙁
April 16th, 2010 at 2:14 PM
@Larry, @mary – I echo your sentiments! And like Alison, I wish that Quest would finally settle down at the Lennox station where cameras are ready and willing to capture the action! 🙂