2020 Fall Raptor Migration and Telemetry Summary | MPG Ranch

2020 Fall Raptor Migration and Telemetry Summary

December 9, 2020

RVRI shares an update on the fall raptor migration totals, banding efforts, and telemetry tracking results.

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We conducted our 10th fall migration survey, counting 2,687 raptors from September 1st to November 12th, 2020.

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This fall began with heavy smoke from wildfires along the West Coast, which limited our ability to detect distant raptors.

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To our surprise, we did not notice a significant decline in the number of Turkey Vultures like we did in nearly every other species.

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We banded a total of 58 individuals of seven species and deployed transmitters on four Red-tailed Hawks and one Peregrine Falcon

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Nutmeg, a hatch-year Red-tailed Hawk, stopped moving on October 6, near the Bitterroot River outside of Hamilton.

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Peggy, a hatch-year Peregrine Falcon, appeared to stop moving ~15 miles south of Butte, MT September 20, just two days after we captured it.

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Three Red-tailed Hawks we captured this year, Cinammon, Cayenne, and Ancho, are still carrying their GPS transmitters.

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In addition to individuals captured this year, we are still tracking nine raptors captured in previous seasons including two Cooper’s Hawks

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We captured Midnight, an adult Peregrine Falcon, September 11, 2018.

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We are also tracking six adult Red-tailed Hawks captured in previous seasons: Bailey, Remington, Bingo, Oscar, Monarch, and Gibson.

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Of all our Red-tailed Hawks, Bingo has the shortest distance between winter and summer ranges.

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Bingo showed strong affinity for a cliff face on its summer range this year.

Previous Research Update

2020 Motus Tag Update

Next Research Update

2020 Turkey Vulture Telemetry Update