20 October 2007

Log Book Transmogrifies....

Wanted to let our readers know that I have found it to be too much to write two blogs a day while traveling, so I will be discontinuing this one and just writing on the Southern Cross blog. Check out the reports there please.

08 October 2007

Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada 8 October 2007

I am sitting in the truck during a heavy rainstorm with wind so hard that it is rocking the vehicle. Terrible weather to migrate but a good time to catch up on the field notes. Upon arriving here yesterday, I entered into yet another time zone. I am so far east now that when I ordered pancakes for breakfast, I got crepes.

No signals from Linda for two days now. So it is a time to wait until she makes her move. Hopefully, I will be close.

I last wrote from Thompson. While waiting there, I encountered some wonderful people who extended their hospitality to me. I have always found this to be typical among people living in the areas away from cities.

I was able to locate a school, Westwood Elementary, and gave them a 20 minute talk on Linda and what we are trying to accomplish. Thanks are due to Susan Thomas, the principal, Karla Turton, and especially Pauline McDonald-Smith, the librarian. She and her husband, Harold and their 6-year-old daughter, Abbey, later invited me to dinner at their home. Greatly appreciated as you can imagine.


(Harold, Pauline and Abbey McDonald-Smith of Thompson, Manitoba)


That night, since Linda was not moving, I caught the all-night train to Churchill. This is the only way to get there except by air. I wanted to try and see what was happening up there that would explain why Linda was staying around so long. The train left 2 hours late (8:30 PM) and arrived 4 hours late (1:30 PM). The tracks are getting pretty old and so the train travels at about 5-20 mph the entire way. Very slow. However, what it lacks in speed, it more than makes up for in discomfort. The train lurches and rolls, starts and stops along the entire way. I found it almost impossible to sleep.


(.... the Train trip to Churchill)


At first light, it was apparent that we had moved well towards the limits of the Boreal treeline. The spruce and Tamarack were widely dispersed and quite short in stature. The area was filled with water in streams, ponds, rivers and lakes. The remaining ground was covered in lichens, grasses and low brush.

It started to snow but you could still make out the odd red-tail, Willow Ptarmigan (now half-white) and the ever-present Ravens.

When we arrived in Churchill, it was still snowing, a strong north wind was blowing and I had my first look at Hudson Bay. There were large waves rolling into the rocky beaches with heavy whitecaps over the sea. It was green and white and immense.

Turns out Churchill is a seaport and the railroad is used to ship Canadian wheat from Saskatchewan and Manitoba to Europe. In this way, it is less expensive than taking it out through the St. Lawrence waterway.

Oddly enough, this feature impacted my trip in an unexpected way. The Prime Minister of Canada and the Premier of Mantoba were due in town the next day to make an announcement concerning upgrading the railway and the port.

I was told that they had the first import of goods come into Churchill this last summer. As things are warming now, you can expect to see things changing in this port city. It should not be long before the arctic waters are open enough to ship around Alaska and the NWT in summer. This would save a trip through the Panama or Suez Canals.

I called up Diane Howell, the assistant director of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, a non-profit organization located outside of town. They are a remarkable group of individuals that provide housing and extensive logistical support for visiting scientists from all over the world and of all types. She was kind enough to pick me up in town despite the flurry of activities taking place before the visit by the Prime Minister.

Everything here in Churchill is influenced by their location along the Hudson Bay Polar Bear migration route. The bears start moving about now. For example, they have an "open door" policy in town where people do not lock their doors in case someone has to duck in momentarily to avoid a bear walking through the streets at night.

You will see the provincial wildlife bear patrol trucks driving through the streets looking for bears. There are signs everywhere warning you to not walk down by the beaches. I am told you especially want to avoid the rocky areas because bears will sleep there and you can encounter them unexpectedly.

Windows at the Centre are barred with 5/8" rebar screens. You are given a bear safety lecture and reminded to make sure you only use the one door and to make certain that you close it behind you lest a bear walk inside the facility. What a nightmare that would be. Open a door on the way to the kitchen and have a Polar Bear standing on the other side. So people tend to follow these rules to the letter.


(Bear bars at the Centre)


In the afternoon, I was able to meet the director of the center, Michael Goodyear, and had a nice conversation about NPO's. He is doing a really excellent job up here for a much needed organization. Check them out on the web at http://www.churchillscience.ca/.

I made arrangements to stay the night, had dinner, and listened to a lecture on the latest findings about global warming before falling off to sleep immediately.

The next morning, I laid low to avoid all of the commotion which actually turned out to be quite easy going. The entourage arrived (4-5 cars), The Prime Minister came in and they did an announcement and then went for a helicopter tour to see the bears a few miles down the coast. Very civilized. Very efficient and I have to admit, kind of fun. Talked with a woman Secret Service agent who was polite and professional (and armed of course). The Prime Minister walked right by just like an ordinary person. It was great.

Later, I went into town and gave another talk to the local grade school, the Duke of Marlborough School. It is brand new and makes up part of a huge community Center complex right on the shore of the bay. It is their first year there and the buildings are beautifully done and well arranged. The principal, Darren Kinden, graciously arranged for the program. His assistant, Cindy Wasylkoski, also helped out. Thanks to them all. Good group of kids too. This is our third and northernmost among the "String of Pearls".


(The new Community Center in Churchill (Duke of Marlborough School)


Unforunatley, I do not have a picture of the kids. We are living in a different world now and we have to have permission from the parents of each child before we can add their picture to the web. Could not get this in time so a picture of their school will have to do.

Went out and walked a bit through Churchill to get a bit of a feel for the place, had lunch and flew back to Thompson that night.



07 October 2007

Amazing interaction ....

Vivian Gross forwarded the images and text below in an email ....As I viewed it I felt compelled to share it ....


Stuart Brown describes Norbert Rosing's
striking images of a wild polar bear
playing with sled dogs in the wilds
of Canada's Hudson Bay.


The photographer was sure that he was going
to see the end of his huskies when the polar bear
materialized out of the blue, as it were:


Obviously it was a well-fed Bear...






The Polar Bear returned every night that week to play with the dogs..






05 October 2007

Linda Under the Clouds




We haven't received any signals from Linda for a couple of days. This has been a recurrent problem ever since she started south and we are hoping that it reflects the influence of the weather and not a deficiency in the transmitter.

I can report that it snowed a fair amount over the last couple of days when I took the train from Thompson to Churchill on Hudson Bay. Heavy overcast moved in with a strong north wind carrying the snow.




(Snow near treeline, en route to Churchill)


Linda had just passed through there a couple of days earlier and then flew east down the coast into Wapusk National Park. This name means "Great White Bear" and the entire area has been set aside as a Polar Bear preserve. It contains one of the highest concentrations of maternal denning areas known for Polar Bears and is reachable only by air or by canoe.

I was interested in learning why Linda was moving south so slowly and most especially what she might be feeding on in this area as winter approaches. At Churchill, I discovered that there are many large flocks of Snow Buntings (300+) congregating among the sea grasses near the shoreline of Hudson Bay. These are fairly small prey for a female peregrine but they are abundant and very conspicuous.

(Hudson Bay shoreline showing Snow Bunting habitat. Note ship offshore)

In addition, I was somewhat surprised to find good numbers of ducks in the area (58 degrees north latitude), especially Mallards, Pintail and Green-winged Teal. The multitude of small ponds one finds in the sub-arctic tundra, were just beginning to freeze over when I was there. Local hunters told me the ducks will all be gone very soon as a result.

Since we have not received any signals lately, I will be driving towards Winnipeg tomorrow morning in case she has been traveling south.

It is amazing to me to learn that Ontario (the next province east) has almost no roads in the northern and central parts of the province. My route will be limited to a narrow band near the southern border with the US. I'll try to link up with Linda there as she crosses the US border.

She has been migrating for 15 days now (11 for me) and has still not departed Canada. Pretty surprising.

Sparrow King Out To Sea!

After an extended time remaining in a very small area of southern Baffin Island (and raising some deep concern among the team about his welfare), Sparrow King dazzled us all today by suddenly flying SW straight across Hudson Strait. He flew 189 km (117 miles) over the ocean and reached Akpatok Island, a known seabird colony. This is a pretty good jump for the first leg of his migration south and is a great example of why tiercel (male) peregrines just impress us all so much.
Thanks again to Mike McGrady and Keith Bildstein for the two male transmitters.

03 October 2007

How Are We Going To Do This?

Some of you have expressed curiosity about the communication logistics of the project. So I'd like to explain how we have set up the system to not only receive the GPS satellite signals but also to communicate from Canada to Chile.

This true wonderment is due to the technical skills of Mark Prostor and Don McCall. Thanks are due to them both for all of their work. And there has been a great deal of that.

So, here is how it all works. The Argos satellite flies over and receives the GPS signals generated by the backpack transmitter (where our bird is at the time). These signals are stored in the satellite and downloaded later to another land computer. Then they are displayed on the Argos website for subscribers. We get a latitude and longitude for the transmitter and an indication of the quality of the signal. However, we never know quite when these will come in during the day.

Don, who apparently never needs to sleep, is usually the first to check the signals. If Linda is moving, he will call me on my cell phone, sometimes at 0400. If he can't reach me by phone, he will e-mail the location of the bird to me. Mark backs up the process. As I drive along the route, I am always looking for a WIFI hotspot to connect to on my laptop. So far, I have mostly found them in hotel lobbies and at some restaurants along major highways. They are starting to overlook me now in the lobby of the Country Inn here in Thompson.

Afterwards, both Mark and Don will put the new locations on the FRG website so you can all follow along.

Later, when we get to more remote locations where there is no WIFI, I can pick up signal coordinates on our satellite telephone. Mark will be joining me to install it next week. It was late because of manufacturing delays. This system will also provide locations for our truck, Lula Belle, three times a day. You'll all be able to see when I am at a beach somewhere (which is sounding better and better right now).

So that, in general, is how it works.

And we hope that you are all enjoying the migration.

01 October 2007

Thompson, Manitoba and Paint Lake

Yesterday, I drove from Flin Flon to near Thompson. Camped at Paint Lake about 20 minutes west of Thompson.
Saw lots of Red-tailed Hawks hunting along the highway, probably 15 or more, widely spaced but still here. They have not migrated out yet. These are the late fall migrants caught at hawk banding stations like Duluth, MN.
Lots of Beaver dams and lodges in the roadside ponds and ditches. No Moose as the hunting season is on right now. The most common birds are Ravens and Red-tails although I also saw a few Bald Eagles, Gray Jays, Spruce Grouse, Ruffed Grouse, Mallards, Canada Geese and American Robins! Actually heard a House Sparrow here in Thompson a minute ago.
Put in 237 miles today, and a total of 2,035 for the trip so far.
Finally got up the courage to convert liters of gasoline into gallons this morning and discovered that I paid $4.50 per gallon yesterday, the highest I've ever experienced. With the exchange rate at parity, a dollar Canadian to a dollar US, gas is costly in the north.
(Beaver lodge on pond near Thompson, Manitoba)

29 September 2007

Linda's Signal

As I drive further north, heading for Thompson, Manitoba, I am noticing a dense, heavy, gray overcast to the north. Reminds me of Seattle in the winter, famous for its overcast. I left the sun behind around The Pas, Manitoba.

If this is typical for Hudson Bay right now, I can see why her solar cell is not charging.

Moving Into the Boreal Forest

This morning, I left the open plains of Saskatchewan after sleeping NE of Regina. As I drove north, small clusters of trees started appearing, mostly Aspen. As the day wore on, the trees increased in extent and I watched the species compositon change. The Birch forest came next (and there is nothing so striking as two jet black Ravens sitting together in a white birch tree covered with golden leaves). The trees then transitioned into the standard dense continuous boreal forest.

(Birch Trees in the Fall)

On the plains, I observed thousands of Snow Geese in the fields and flying south overhead. There are hundreds of small ponds, streams and lakes here, most still holding huge numbers of waterfowl (including Redhead Ducks, now a rarity in my area). The temperature is cool in the morning and almost hot in the afternoon. In terms of weather, there is certainly no obvious need to vacate the area as yet. It is quite pleasant here at this time of year, although there are constant reminders that winter is approaching.

I saw lots of road-killed raccoons, two porcupines, several skunks an even a mink dead along the roadsides. Strange way to get to know the local mammals. As I moved into the boreal forest areas, Red-tails showed up everywhere. Remarkably, I have seen only one American Kestrel on the entire trip. Most have probably moved south by now.

These deep peregrines seem to ride the end of the seasons. They left Chile late, arrived in the Arctic late, and have left the Arctic late. Several peregrine people have noted their late depatures. Many of us generally thought they were out of the Arctic in late August or early September. Wrong on that one. These tagged falcons continue to teach us.

Seven Roosting in Flin Flon, Manitoba

This morning Don McCall alerted me that Seven had roosted at these coordinates last night. Since I was so close, I drove up to Flin Flon, a full-blown mining town (zinc and gold) situated on the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border. I arrived at nightfall and triangulated his position to a lakeshore SE of town. We probably passed close by each other today. I'll go check out the area in the morning. Nice coincidence that he was passing through here at the same time. The area is dense boreal forest (birch, spruce) interspersed with many small complex finger lakes. It is apparently quite a draw for campers, fishermen and canoeing. I can see why. Quite beautiful.

There were groups of literally hundreds of Horned Larks foraging along the gravel edges of the highway today. Several Gray Jays too. Also the lakes to the south are HUGE, more like inland fresh-water seas, and they provide a perfect hunting opportunity for peregrines. They love to catch migrant birds over large bodies of water. No place to hide. I can now understand why Linda spent alot of time there last fall.


(Highway north into Manitoba)

28 September 2007

Heading towards the Rendezvous

We are going to try out something new in this part of the weblog. I am going to use this section to describe the human experiences on the trip south, including routes, impressions, travel info and the like. I'll also be adding some photos taken along the way.

The falcon information will be included in the other blogs as usual.

After several weeks of preparation, I left home on Tuesday, 25 September, and headed down to Seattle and then over the Cascade Mountains. The fall colors were well advanced at Snoqualmie Pass, the 3,000' summit and the temperatures are starting to get colder. From there I continued on to the Columbia River where a full moon came up over the Columbia Basin. A great start to the trip, especially when framed against the Wild Horse Monument above the gorge.
My goal is to travel east and intercept Linda, probably in Manitoba, as she travels down from the north.


That night, I arrived at Mark Prostor's house in a Yellow Pine forest near Cheney, WA, and stayed the night there.

The next day, Wednesday, we put all of the final touches on Lula Belle, the project truck (satellite receiving antenna, tailgate seals, latch, installing the inverter for AC power, tire up on the rack, etc) and made our final preparations. Mark is amazing in his abilities and got everything done perfectly. And thanks to Mark's wife, Andrea, for her patience and hospitality.

(Mark, Bud & Lula Belle)

On Thursday, I headed east and passed through Spokane where a Merlin did a stoop directly in front of the truck. Drove on through Idaho, passing Lake Couer D'Alene and eventually drove into Montana. At St. Regis, I turned north towards Flathead Lake to visit Denver Holt of the Owl Institue in Charlo . During the next several hours, I drove through some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen, the Lolo National Forest, the Clark Fork River, the Flathead River, The National Bison Range and the Mission Mountain range. Gorgeous mountains with a light first coating of snow, reminding me of the approaching winter, Aspen trees turning a light lime green against the darker conifers. All the things that Montana is famous for. Continued on up to Kalispell, into Glacier National Park and camped on a logging road outside of East Glacier.


Early to bed after sundown, I awoke next morning at 0400 and headed out for the east, crossing the continental divide in the dark. There is something deeply satisfying about driving alone at night with a near full moon into an area where you have never been.
Driving downhill through the foothills, I suddenly came into a beautiful golden lit basin (mercury vapor lights), the Blackfoot town of Browning where I fueled up. At home, I drive a Toyota Prius and it is difficult to go from my usual 54 mpg down to 13 mpg. Continued east until the town of Havre, where I headed north, went through both US and Canadian customs and was finally in Canada (1115). The US Customs agent had just returned to work after a terrible session with West Nile Virus that laid him low for two weeks. His descriptions were vivid and frightening. Delirium, not knowing who he was, inability to stand, etc. First person I have met that had it.
Moved into Saskatchewan and immediately started seeing lots of Ferruginous Hawks along with ground squirrels. I have also been seeing several Coyotes and my favorite, herds of Pronghorn Antelope, always a thrill to someone who does not live here.


Drove through many, many miles of wheat country with low rolling hills and small rivers, many dry at this time of year.

Finally reached Moose Jaw as the sun was going down and hooked into a restaurant with a WIFI hotspot so I can send this on. After dinner, will drive out and look for a spot to sleep.