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Sr. Bones - 2012
'09 maps for:
Bea
--
Buck -- Caley --
Claws --
Conomo --
Hix --
Hudson 09 -- Isabel --
Katy -- L.R. --
Moffet --
Mr. Hannah --
Ozzie --
Penelope
--
Rafael
2010 maps for: Belle
-- Buck --
Gunny --
Hudson --
Mr. Hannah --
Neale --
North Fork Bob
--
Penelope --
Sanford
-- Sr. Bones --
Thatch
2011 maps:
Belle --
Buck --
Henrietta --
Katbird
-- North Fork Bob --
Pemi --
Saco --
Sanford --
Sr. Bones --
Snowy --
Thatch -- Tucker
2012 maps: Art -- Belle -- Bridger --
Chip -- Cutch --
Jill -- North Fork Bob --
Rammie -- Snowy --
Sr. Bones -- Thatch
2013 maps: Art --
Belle --
Bridger --
North Fork Bob --
Rammie --
Snowy --
Sr. Bones
Osprey
main page --
Migration
page --
Migration09 --
Migration10 --
Migration 11 --
Migration 12 --
Migration 13 -- Home
Page
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15 Sep-6 Oct 2012. Sr. Bones is the
first bird we've tracked that has begun a third
migration cycle. As he moves south, we'll
compare his track this fall with the two
previous round trips he's made.
What we see here is the same thing we've seen in all
the other birds that we have tracked on more
than one migration--there's a lot of flexibility
in their routes, but they always wind up in the
same place.
Bones got to his winter home on the 6th of Oct. after
taking the absolutely most efficient migration
route possible.
Scroll down to the start of spring migration,
or...
Skip to the start of fall migration.
On
the wintering grounds. |
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19 Mar-4 Apr 2012: The spring migration
overview: Sr. Bones is home
in Nantucket. Last year it took him an amazing
14 days to get from Colombia to Nantucket. This
year he left 4 days earlier (20 Mar) but took 2
days longer (slacker!) to get home.
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1 Jan - 20 Mar 2012: Sr. Bones, just
like last year, spent his whole 5 months in
South America in a very small (just 2 miles
across) corner of the Colombian mountains.
He began his migration on March 20th. |
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19-22 Mar 2012: Bones is off again on March
20th. Last
year he left his mountain hideout on the 24th.
He's 4 days ahead of schedule this year.
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19-22 Mar 2012: Easy to see in this
topographic map why his fall and spring routes
are so similar each year. |
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23-24 Mar 2012: Crossing the Caribbean is
sure a lot less nerve-wracking in the spring
than it is during hurricane season! The green
tracks show his crossings last year. The Trade
Winds were probably a bit stronger out of the
north east this spring than last, which would
explain why he hit Haiti further west this
spring.
Sr. Bones left the Guajira Peninsula around 9:30AM on
the 23rd and arrived in Haiti around 6:30AM on
the 24th. The crossing was about 445 miles (716
km) and took about 21 hours. He averaged about
21 mph (about 34 kph). The distance was probably
a bit longer and thus the speed a bit higher
because those calculations depend on his
following that straight segment after the last
fix on the 23rd. In reality, his track would
have swung further west and curved back to the
east as he neared Cuba, as indicated by the
white track. |
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24-26 Mar 2012: Just takin' care of
business here, successfully dodging Cuban fish
farms. |
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27-31 Mar 2012: Bones got a bit of a late
start leaving Cuba on the 27th, passing into the
Florida Straight around noon. He was poking
along at only 18 mph (23 kph) as he headed to
the Keys, probably fighting a bit of a northeast
headwind, which would explain the slow speed and
westerly orientation to his flight.
He got to the Keys a bit after 6PM and kept on flying,
making landfall south of Cape Coral on Florida's
Gulf Coast probably around midnight.
He spent the night of the 29th in South Carolina, north
of Savanna, and then both the 30th and 31st in
North Carolina. The weather was probably
unfavorable on the 31st--he only moved 60 miles
(93 km). |
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1-4 Apr 2012: Bones made up for a bit of
lost time on the 1st, covering 173 miles (279
km). After a short move on the 2nd, he covered
the last 324 miles (521 km) on the 3rd and 4th.
He arrived on Nantucket around 3 PM on the 4th. |
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3-4 Apr 2012: Coming in for a landing. |
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4 Apr 2012: 186 days after leaving Nantucket
last fall (on 16 Sept), Sr. Bones is home. He
arrived around 3PM. Our first fix for him at his
nest was at 5PM, but he probably was there
before this. At 4PM he was 2.4 mi (3.8 km)
offshore looking for a meal. |
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2010-2012: Sr. Bones is the first adult we've
tagged with a GPS unit to have made it through two complete
migration cycles, which are shown in this map.
The green tracks are his north and southbound
trips in 2011. |
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4-30 Apr 2012: Bones is back and hunting his
usual fishing holes.
A strange pattern is obvious here--one that we saw last
year, but didn't really pay attention to.
Many of his trips from the nest are loops from the nest
to Sesachacha to Long and Hummock Ponds and then
back to the nest.
I've got to look at the data a bit closer, but one
explanation is that Sesachacha is his first
choice. If he catches something there, he takes
it home. If, after some time, he doesn't catch
anything, he heads west to Long and Hummock
Ponds. |
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4-31 May 2012: Bones continues to do his
triangle from the nest to Sesachacha Pond to
Long and Hummock Ponds and back to the nest.
In the next series of maps, we compare his locations in
April and May in 2011 and 2012. |
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Bones spent more
time at Long and Hummock Ponds in April than May
of 2011. In 2012 the pattern was reversed. In
April of 2011 he spent very little time at
Sesachacha Pond. In May of 2011 and in both
months of 2012, Sesachacha became an important
stop for him. |
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Bones' movements
in June and July were pretty similar over the
two years. Long and Hummock Ponds are no longer
of much interest. In June of 2012 he spent more
time fishing out in the bay than he did in 2011.
In July of both years, he was able to find all
the food he needed up in the Head of the Harbor. |
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These maps are so similar I had to check
twice to make sure I hadn't used the same year's
data in both. Last year he started migrating on
September 16th.
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1-14 Sep 2012: Bones spent a lot of time
fattening up at Almanac Pond (any Nantucketers
want to confirm or correct this?) getting ready
for his annual pilgrimage to the mountains of
Colombia. |
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15-18 Sep 2012:
Bones began his fall migration modestly, with a
40 mile trip over to Martha's Vineyard, where he
actually had a sleep-over before setting off in
earnest. This is the first time we've seen him
in Connecticut.
In 2010, the first year we followed him, he started
migration on 10 Sep. In 2011 he started on the
16th. This year he started on the 15th, at least
in this aspect of migration, he does seem to be
a creature of habit.
Not so much, however, when we look at the routes he
takes. |
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19-21 Sep 2012: After pretty much taking the
18th as a layover (he only moved 12 miles),
strong northerly winds got Bones going again on
the 19th. He covered almost 300 miles (480 km)
before settling down for the night in southern
Virginia.
We can see here how different the routes taken by the
same bird can be from year to year. In 2010,
Bones crossed Chesapeake Bay about in the middle
of the Bay (yellow track), in 2011 he pretty
much followed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
at the mouth of the Bay (green track), and this
year, he didn't cross the Bay at all, but rather
did an end run around it (purple track). |
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23-28 Sep 2012: Bones is just cruising
along. He slowed down a bit in Cuba, but kept
moving. |
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26 Sep - 4 Oct 2012: Sr. Bones took the
absolute shortest route possible across the
Caribbean. |
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2-6 Oct 2012: A22 days after leaving
Nantucket, Sr. Bones arrived back on his
wintering HQ up in the mountains of Colombia. |
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6 Oct 2012: Bones is back for his 5 month
winter vacation. |
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6 Oct 2012: Bones
has arrived at his mountain redoubt from just
about every direction. Once he gets there, he
settles down at what must be a very fishy place. |
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7 Oct 2012-10 Mar 2013: Boring = safe. He
usually heads home around March 20th. |
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