smithsonianus with GPS to Norway
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 12:15 am
I don't know if it has been mentioned before, I'll quote this site:
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/watersupply/wat ... /index.htm
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Tracking Gulls Via Satellite
A small number of gulls are fitted with satellite transmitters instead of wing-tags. Several types of transmitters have been deployed: a 45-gram GPS equipped transmitter on the adult great black-back gull; 30-gram and 22-gram GPS equipped transmitters on adult herring gulls; a 20-gram non-GPS equipped satellite transmitters on herring gulls; and a 9.5-gram non-GPS equipped satellite transmitter for the ring-billed gulls. All transmitters are solar-powered and have the potential to last several years. There are currently satellite transmitters on 5 ring-billed gulls, 9 herring gulls, and 1 black-back gull.
Click on the following links to follow the flight pattern of two of these gulls. You need to have Google Earth on your computer to view this data. Each point represents one specific data point transmitted from the backpack unit to a satellite.
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http://www.mass.gov/dcr/watersupply/wat ... /87433.kmz: Adult herring gull. Captured 11/5/08 at the Blackstone Valley Water Abatement facility, Worcester, MA. Locations are obtained with GPS technology, so these points are extremely accurate.
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It passed Jan Mayen island, but apparently didn't reach coastal Norway? Then it travelled back to coastal US and went south to Florida. Quite a traveller.
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/watersupply/wat ... /index.htm
...
Tracking Gulls Via Satellite
A small number of gulls are fitted with satellite transmitters instead of wing-tags. Several types of transmitters have been deployed: a 45-gram GPS equipped transmitter on the adult great black-back gull; 30-gram and 22-gram GPS equipped transmitters on adult herring gulls; a 20-gram non-GPS equipped satellite transmitters on herring gulls; and a 9.5-gram non-GPS equipped satellite transmitter for the ring-billed gulls. All transmitters are solar-powered and have the potential to last several years. There are currently satellite transmitters on 5 ring-billed gulls, 9 herring gulls, and 1 black-back gull.
Click on the following links to follow the flight pattern of two of these gulls. You need to have Google Earth on your computer to view this data. Each point represents one specific data point transmitted from the backpack unit to a satellite.
...
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/watersupply/wat ... /87433.kmz: Adult herring gull. Captured 11/5/08 at the Blackstone Valley Water Abatement facility, Worcester, MA. Locations are obtained with GPS technology, so these points are extremely accurate.
...
It passed Jan Mayen island, but apparently didn't reach coastal Norway? Then it travelled back to coastal US and went south to Florida. Quite a traveller.