Elizabetha Inching South

Our bird continued to move slowly south through the mountains of Ecuador in late November. Yesterday, she flew a mere 22 km (14 miles).

This is another example of the slow migration behavior exhibited by some of our adult female "deep" peregrines. We saw this behavior in Linda last year as well as in the first satellite tagged peregrine that flew to South America in the 1990's. The latter bird, tagged by Bill Seegar, arrived in the high mountains of Argentina in mid-December.

What are the selective advantages of an extended migration period? They might include;

1.) a greater familiarity with the terrain along the migratory route.

2.) more opportunities to hunt different prey species over a wider range of habitats.

3.) less energy expended over a greater period of time.

So there may be some definite advantageous elements to this type of behavior for the adult female.