Art - 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

	10 Sep-7 Nov 2012 - Art was the first of our adults to head south this year.      He was very efficient and is showing us what we've seen in a lot of other adults. Once they get to South America, they will often take off on a straight line for their target destination. Because this is the first year we've followed Art, we don't know where he's going, but he does.      We thought he might have reached his winter home when he got to the Amazon on the 18th, but he kept right on going and has now gone farther southeast through Brazil than any bird we have followed to date.      It looks like he's settled down for the winter near the confluence of the Rios Tocantins and Araguaia. Scroll down to see all his maps for the summer (lots of interesting observations of his hunting patterns) or... Skip ahead to the start of migration. Skip to south of the Caribbean.
	29 May-11 June 2012 - Art was tagged at his nest along the Pemigewasset River in the Lakes District of central New Hampshire. The Pemigewasset becomes the Merrimack below the confluence with the Winipesaukee (New England does have the best place names of anywhere!)
	13-18 June 2012 - Art doesn't seem to be having any problem catching fish to feed his single young. He spends a lot of time around the nest, and is fishing mostly in Little Squam Lake and at the rather tiny Sky Pond southeast of his nest.
	18-25 June 2012 - From here on, we'll look at weekly snapshots of where Art is fishing. This week it's still Little Squam and Winona Lakes, Sky Pond, and a fair bit of time up the Pemigewasset River above his nest.
	26 June-3 July 2012 - Most of his fishing was along the river this week. Not trips recorded to Little Squam. We do have to remember that because we only get hourly locations for him, it's possible that he could have flown over to Little Squam, caught a fish, and been back to his nest in less than an hour, which, as long as he left shortly after his hourly location, wouldn't show up on our maps.
	4-10 July 2012 - Art made  his first trip down to Lake Waukewan, and didn't fish Sky Pond for the first time (at least he wasn't there for an hourly location).
	11-17 July 2012 - Local fishermen report that as the water is warming up, trout are seeking deeper, cooler waters, which puts them out of the reach of an Osprey, which can only catch fish near the water surface (they can go down about a meter/yard). The cluster of points on the "Pemi" north of his nest is a big, broad expanse of rapids that seems to have attracted his attention.
	17-23 July 2012 - No more trips down to Sky Pond or Winona L. Little Squam still seems to be productive, as are the rapids north of his nest. He's also found a spot he likes on the Baker River about 11 miles (17 km) from his nest.
	June-July 2012 - Here's a bit of a different way to look at the data. We're just focusing on the paths that connect the hourly locations. What jumps out from this map is that almost all his trips from the nest lasted less than two hours and were to a single destination. When we see him go out to a pond and then straight back to the nest, we can assume that it was a successful trip.      Sky Pond is only 5 miles (8 km) from his nest, and Little Squam even closer, so Art's found  himself a very productive location for his nest.
	24 July-4 Aug 2012 - A lot more focus on the Pemigewasset River and Little Squam.      Art's trips to the Baker River tend to be early morning, and his trips over to Little Squam Lake are pretty much right at 5PM. They must serve up a great Trout Margarita at happy hour over there!
	4-21 Aug 2012 - Compare this map to the one two above, where we saw almost every trip away from the nest followed by a return trip. Here we see lots of trips away from the nest that are followed by a track to another fishing spot. Seems like the fishing is getting a bit harder for some reason.
	4-21 Aug 2012 - Here's the same data without the tracks. A bit easier to see where Art's been fishing--mostly the Pemigewasset River and Little Squam Lake.
	22-29 Aug 2012: The fishing seems to have dried up at some of Art's favorite spots. During the week, no trips to the Baker River, and only one trip to Hawkins and Sky Ponds. Little Squam is still productive, apparently, as is one spot down on the "Pemi."      He should be heading south soon....
	30 Aug-4 Sep 2012: We can infer from Art's latest movement data that his daughter has taken off. His mate would have left sometime around the middle of the month, most likely, leaving him to take care of the young until it left the natal area. That apparently happened around 31 Aug, as that's the last day Art was near his nest. Since then he has been roosting on the banks of the Pemigewasset River and feeding a lot at Sky Pond--again. Interesting that this pond, a favorite early in the summer, is now productive again. This probably has something to do with water temperature.      The instigator of the New Hampshire Osprey tagging, Iain MacLeod, has been over to Sky Pond recently and reports that trout are rising everywhere--an Osprey smorgasbord!
	5-10 Sep 2012: The last 6 days before Art started his migration were pretty much the same as the previous week. He only made one trip up to his nest on the 7th, probably looking for his passport!      Other than that, he pretty much just commuted between his roost on the "Pemi" and Sky Pond, which, my colleague on the New Hampshire Osprey project reports, is chocker-block full of trout. Iain even caught a picture of Art with a trout on the day before he (Art) headed for points south.
	10-13 Sep 2012: Art started migrating on the 11th. The other two tracks leaving New Hampshire are Chip and Jill, two juveniles tagged in Tilton, NH, not long after they had begun flying.      Art apparently agrees with Horace Greeley's advice to "Go west, young man!"      Other than our youngster Meadow, who wandered all the way to Lake Superior, this is the furthest west we've had an Osprey go on fall migration. He even went north of Hawk Mountain, the iconic hawk migration lookout on Pennsylvania's Kittatiny Ridge. And, no, Hawk Mountain is not an active volcano, but I couldn't resist when I saw the icon available in Google Earth ;-).      Raptors will follow ridge lines like these folded mountains, capitalizing on "orogenic," or mountain-induced [our 50-cent word of the day] updrafts. They can glide along the ridges getting a boost from the winds.      Looking at this view, I can see why the Waggoners Gap Hawk Watch site records so many raptors. They're catching birds coming along the ridge north of Hawk Mountain, who then come through the Susquehanna River Gap. For some reason, Art stayed on a westerly course and won't have been counted at Waggoners. I was up there on Monday and saw a few Ospreys, along with a bunch of Bald Eagles and lots of Broadwinged Hawks.
	12-15 Sep 2012: After dodging the Hawk Mountain counters, Art continued to ride ridge winds west and south through the Appalacian Mountains in Pennsylvania, Maryland (probably for about 10 wingbeats), and West Virginia. Shortly after crossing the Virginia state line, he headed out across the Shenandoah Valley and pushed on south towards North Carolina.
	11-15 Sep 2012: The trip so far. Art settled down on the Dan River in southern Virginia on the 15th. At this point his roost-to-roost distance traveled was 1,085 km (a bit over 600 miles). This is a pretty average rate.      While Art knows where he's going--adults always go back to the same winter location--this is the first year we're tracking him, so we've no idea where he'll wind up.      ("Always" is admittedly a big word, but we've never tracked an adult that didn't go back to the same spot each winter.)
	15-19 Sep 2012: This looks a lot like Art's home back on the Pemigewasset River. He should be comfortable here.
	19-22 Sep 2012: After a three-day bivouac on the Dan River, he continued his journey towards his winter waters.
	21-25 Sep 2012: Art's moving right along, in the middle of our pack of Ospreys heading south. Cutch, Jill, Bones, and probably Belle are ahead of him, Thatch is right by his side, Chip and North Fork Bob are waiting for their migration muses to talk to them, and our two cell-tower birds (Bridger and Rammie) are probably behind him as well.      At this point, he's flown1,851 miles (2,979 km) since he left New Hampshire 15 days ago. His average distance on days he was actually migrating was a very normal 154 (248 km).
	25 Sep-3 Oct 2012: Art didn't seem to be in much of a hurry as he made his way across Cuba and Hispaniola, moving less than 100 miles/day.
	4-5 Oct 2012: Art left the Dominican Republic early on the 4th, starting the day's travel around 6 AM (an early start for an Osprey). He made the 450 mile (720 km) crossing in about 18 hours. He was doing the standard 25 mph throughout the day on the 4th.
	5-14 Oct 2012: Art is heading to his wintering area. We don't know where it is, but he does.
	11 Oct 2012: Along the way, Art passed just east of Angel Falls in southern Venezuela. (I once got to fly down that valley in a 727--we were looking out the side windows at the Falls!)
	13 Oct 2012: Art passed over the huge savanna in the Brazilian state of Roraima.
	13 Oct 2012: This looks like some samples of granite we've been looking at for our kitchen remodel.
	15-18 Oct 2012: Art has made it to the Amazon in northeastern Brazil. We thought he might stop here, but he kept right on going....
	11-21 Oct 2012: This overview of his track so far shows how he has been on a pretty constant compass course since he hit the Venezuelan coast.
	18-23 Oct 2012: Art continues his journey to someplace he knows has good fishing.      At this point it was 41 days ago that he left his nest area in New Hampshire. He's been actually migrating on 38 of those days. He's flown 4,631 miles (7,452 km), averaging 122 miles/migration day (196 km/day).
	20-23 Oct 2012: Art settled down for a few days near the confluence of the Tocantins and Araguaia Rivers. We thought maybe this was the last stop, but once again were wrong. I haven't uploaded the maps yet, but his download on the 26th has him even further southeast.
	26 Oct-7 Nov 2012: Art didn't move far. This could be his wintering area.
	26 Oct-7 Nov 2012: A close-up view of where and how Art spent the last 2 weeks. He obviously has a few perches he uses a lot.
	21 Oct-31 Dec 2012: After about a month and a half down on the Rio Araguaia, Art headed back to the Rio Tocantins.
	1 Jan - 11 Mar 2013: Art has settled down on some ox-box lakes just north of the main channel of the Rio Tocantins. He should be heading north soon.