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

	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	19-22 Mar 2012: Easy to see in this topographic map why his fall and spring routes are so similar each year.
	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.
	24-26 Mar 2012: Just takin' care of business here, successfully dodging Cuban fish farms.
	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).
	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.
	3-4 Apr 2012: Coming in for a landing.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.

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.
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.
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.

	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.
	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.
	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).
	23-28 Sep 2012: Bones is just cruising along. He slowed down a bit in Cuba, but kept moving.
	26 Sep - 4 Oct 2012: Sr. Bones took the absolute shortest route possible across the Caribbean.
	2-6 Oct 2012: A22 days after leaving Nantucket, Sr. Bones arrived back on his wintering HQ up in the mountains of Colombia.
	6 Oct 2012: Bones is back for his 5 month winter vacation.
	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.
	7 Oct 2012-10 Mar 2013: Boring = safe. He usually heads home around March 20th.