Friday, January 14, 2011

Sinbad hanging around


So far, nothing changed, and Sinbad is still in the same region where he landed after its crossing of the Mozambique Channel. Obviously, food is largely abundant and there is no need to travel around on the island. We still receive good quality data and the transmitter is working properly.

Unfortunately, the transmitter of Sheba does not send any signals anymore. As the device has not been working for weeks now it is probable that the transmitter failed or something happened to the bird. To my knowledge there is no information on juvenile mortality in Sooty falcon. In Eleonora's falcon it is seemingly very high (78 % in the first year), but this calculation was based upon the hypothesis that immature Eleonora's do return to their natal areas after their first winter. Apparently this is not the case so this figure has to be corrected. Besides satellite tracking data of 2 immatures hard data is missing. Anybody with information on juvenile mortality of Sooties?