October 2, 2016

We had training for all apprentices and returning trackers today.  Libby Rouan was in charge of the day and everything went really well. Many of last year's apprentices came back for a refresher course in the morning.  And in the afternoon, we switch gears to Advanced Tracker Training.  Thanks, Libby, for a great training day.

Step Wilson, Telemetry Manager, came by to give "official" guidance. James Raives, Theresa Rettinghouse, and Mike Hall helped Libby.  And, I, Lynn, added my two cents worth, and did a presentation on Cooper's Hawks' Movements (from tracking in the mid-1990s).   And, of course, all of the experienced folks added their two cents, as well.  What a great group of volunteers!

This year we're going to return to tracking Cooper's Hawks.  The 15 Cooper's Hawks that we tracked in the mid-90s showed us a very diverse track of movements.  North all the way to Shasta, and East to the rough wilderness just west of Lake Tahoe.  South?, you say?  No, not unless you believe that Half Moon Bay is south!  Or La Grange, CA.  A line between Half Moon Bay and La Grange would created the most southern that any of our coops traveled.  This was truly a Northern California story.  Why didn't any of our birds go South?  Always more questions......

We've got two weeks to get everything ready, and things are looking pretty good. We will be testing some smaller transmitters, and their range will be much more limited than we're used to using.  Will we be able to track, at all, with the smaller transmitters?  It will be both exciting and challenging.  We'll start on October 15, and see where the Coops will take us this year.

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