SCPP Field Nates - 01 Mar. thru 04 Mar.

1 March 2009 (Sunday, Day 6)

Kathy and I drove north into intense Atacama Desert today heading for the location of Paco's transmitter, lost last year when we assume he died on the coast of Chile. We drove past Chanaral, up onto the high and dry coastal plateau moving for hours through the hot, open, barren desert with its myriad colors, rolling hills and bright sunlight. Arrow straight roads, mining side roads heading out seemingly nowhere into the distant foothills, constant semi trucks hauling materials up to distant cities. This is simply and elementally one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
We pulled into Taltal, a small coastal community and got some food in the afternoon, fried chicken for me and later to prove a big mistake on my part.
Drove a few miles north on the coastal road and found the GPS position for Paco easily in a small cirque of rock and dirt. We jumped out and started intensively searching the ground for his transmitter. We not only wanted to find it and re-cycle it but were also looking for any type of clue as to what might have happened to him.
We did find that this is a popular camping area for local Chileans and there were several families and cars immediately below us. That means a source of potential food for the foxes in this area and we did find many piles of fox scat and tracks in and around the area. Of interest is that almost all of the scat contained bird feathers so we know now that foxes are definitely a source of mortality for birds here.
We also saw many Turkey Vultures patrolling the hillside right at the GPS site. It is unlikely that they missed a dead peregrine for long in this hot, near tropical climate.

2 March 2009 (Monday, Day 7)

Rough night as a result of the bad food. Pretty sick. Fortunately Kathy is doing fine and took off pre-dawn to hike the mile and a half up the mountainside to the last GPS point for Paco's transmitter. It was at about 2,500' elevation up a long steep ridge. Kathy made it up in record time and spent over four hours looking for the transmitter among cactus, rock and brush, over and above the call of duty. Amazing job on her part but unfortunately with no success. We simply do not know what happened to this transmitter. A fox followed her back down the trail for most of her return trip. Guanacos here too.
Finally headed south again and drove the rest of the day to Copiapo and beyond, camping out in the silent desert under bright stars. You really have to be far away from the lights of the city to remember just how bright the Milky Way can be. Breathtakingly beautiful.

3 March 2009 (Tuesday, Day 8)

Drove south across the Atacama back to La Serena which is where the habitat really changes to a more Mediterranean/California type of vegetation. We have left the desert behind. Looked for the La Serena bird again with no luck. Visited the cathedral and had the adult female dozing on the tower. Spent the evening with our friend, Bob, strategizing on how to catch the church bird. Still feeling pretty sick.

4 March 2009 (Wednesday, Day 9)

Drove into town to pick up some items for a new trap for the cathedral bird. En route, we spotted the tagged La Serena bird in her usual row of trees just down the road from Bob's house. We spent the next 4 hours trying to get her to come into the harness. She does not seem too interested. Finally, near dark, as we both looked away from her, she did a series of hard, fast stoops but refused to hit. We think that she may remember being captured here by Tom and Jesus two years ago. She seemed to be interested but just not too committed to the hunt. So off she went into the darkening sky of evening.
One of the problems we are having is that the farmers are planting in this area right now. The area is very rich in both farmland and in bird life. Quite different from the desert. It has huge flocks of pigeons, lots of shorebirds along the beach and passerines everywhere. But the fields are either being plowed, just planted or growing crops. There are only a few "postage sized" fields to throw in, often with dozens of farm hands in the next fields harvesting tomatoes.
So the trapping is incredibly challenging for this bird.
After dark, we drove into town to check on the cathedral bird and found her perched on an entirely new place on the tower. Later, after Kathy had dinner (I'm still sick), we found that she had left the cathedral entirely. Although we looked around, we could not find her anywhere. This is creating a really challenging problem. How do you capture an adult peregrine perching in a busy city, on a tall cathedral, and unpredictable in her roosting and perching habits? We are not sure but we are working on it.