Elizabetha Moving Along the St. Lawrence

Elizabetha is slowly moving SW along the St. Lawrence and is now about 163 km (100 miles) NE of Quebec. She is following the northern coastline instead of jumping across the river. At last signal, she was apparently flying down the waterway and was nearly to an island in mid-river. By the time I write this, I expect that she may have arrived in New Brunswick.

Last year, when Mark Prostor and I were chasing another adult female satellite-tagged peregrine, Linda, she also paused along the St. Lawrence although further upstream in NY. We got to within a quarter mile of her but were unable to find her among the densely forested shoreline.

However, we were both struck by how much birdlife was available in the region at that time of year. The place was crawling with birds, many flying out over the open water, becoming both visible and vulnerable to falcons. We had no problem understanding why this area was attractive to migrant peregrines. There was food for them everywhere.

As we now observe our second adult female heading south via satellite this year, we understand how adult females can "delay" their migration south. We always thought that adult peregrines rocketed south as soon as possible so they could be the first to arrive on and claim their austral ranges in Central and South America. And, of course, many do. Look at Sparrow King for example.

But these two birds, Linda and Elizabetha, are showing us a different model. They simply take their time heading south, apparently exploiting prey sources that are available at locations such as the St. Lawrence River at this time of year.