We are learning as we go on this project. No one has tried to do this before and so we discover what works and what doesn't work in real time while in the field.
We have known for years that the three satellite signals per day are unpredictable in their arrival. Don can receive them at virtually any time after they have been uploaded to the satellite, in the worst case 24 hours later, sometimes almost immediately. There is apparently no way of calling this.
So today is an example of that process. It is now 9 PM here in the coastal town of La Serena and we still do not have any signals from today. As a result, we have no idea where Felipe is or exactly where we should be. So we elected to stay here in this beautiful city and wait for the satellite data to become available.
We don't know if we have gone too far north or not far enough. We should find out pretty soon.
We had strong south winds blowing all morning as we came north. That should help him gain some good distance.
They changed to westerlies as we neared La Serena. We also moved from the inland bright sun to a heavy gray and cool overcast on the coast.
I have often noticed that some of the radio-tagged birds like to migrate north using an inland route. Could this have something to do with the coastal weather conditions?
We traveled through cactus country today. In places, there were so many that it looked like a forest of cacti. Early settlers here actually planted them in rows tpo create fences for livestock. You can see them heading way out into the desert in a dark line.
More later.
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