Project OspreyTrack: Artoo Map

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September 23, 2015
As expected there was no new data today from Artoo’s transmitter. A closer examination of the data by a marine expert suggests that the group of points on the 19th were moving too slow to be on a boat (about 4.8 knots as he covered a distance of 19 miles in 5 hours). The data is consistent with him floating in the Florida Current. So . . . sometime between 7pm on the 18th and 10am on the 19th, poor Artoo died. How will remain a complete mystery. There were no weather issue that we could see; no smoking gun. It seems very unlikely that he would have turned around in the night and flown north again, so I still suspect a ship was involved somewhere, but, we will never know. A devastating loss. As researchers, we are supposed to remain impartial, but Artoo was a favorite bird – a survivor, who we hoped would return to breed in New Hampshire.

September 21, 2015
Artoo may have made a fatal mistake. His most recent upload of the previous three days was very perplexing and concerning. He flew south from the Keys on the 18th and there were three “normal” points showing him making good time headed towards Cuba. The last point of the 18th was at 7pm and he was nearly half way across. But the next group of points beginning at 10 am on the 19th indicated that sometime in the night Artoo had landed on a boat. The slow moving vessel had taken him 140 miles north and now 25 miles off the Florida east coast. Landing on a vessel in the night is not too surprising (although never good), but why he would stay on the vessel throughout the next day is ominous. Sunday’s data was very patchy. There were only three inaccurate Doppler points and no new GPS points for the entire day. The Doppler points suggested that he was either still on the vessel or on the water another 70 miles to the north. Baffling! My guess is that Artoo is either dead or injured and unable to leave the boat. But . . . in three days his transmitter is programmed for another upload and maybe Artoo will surprise me, but I expect not to hear any more from him. It’s just gutting to loose Artoo who was the only of our NH juveniles to survive long enough to return to his natal area.

September 11, 2015
Artoo logged in from near Jacksonville, Florida last night. One inaccurate point so far today indicates that is continuing south (perhaps after a morning of fishing). Keep an eye on the latest on all our birds on the interactive map: http://www.ospreytrax.com/2015%20New%20England%20Fall.html

September 9, 2015
Artoo is booking along nicely. It’s interesting to compare his first south-bound migration (when he knew nothing) and this year. He is following the safe, tried-and-true, adult route. He ended Tuesday near Riceboro, Georgia.

September 5, 2015
Artoo is make quick progress. He is already in Virginia having travelled more than 500 miles since leaving Green Pond (with one last stop at the fish hatchery) on September 1.

September 2, 2015
After a relatively short “return” to New England, Artoo has started his second southbound migration. He had really settled into the Montague area of north Massachusetts since July 28, but decided it was time to head back to South America. He made good progress yesterday and ended the day south of Monticello in Sullivan County, NY, not far from the Pennsylvania border. So, what did he learn on his 1st southbound migration in 2013? Will he follow the “safe adult route”? Will he head all the way back to the Amazon or will be settle in northern Venezuela where he spent a good portion of his first winter (and loitered on his way north this spring)? I REALLY hope he survives another winter and returns next year to breed. Fingers crossed for our boy Artoo.

August 26, 2015
Artoo has really settled down in Montague, MA. He spends most of his time on Green Pond, Lake Pleasant and the Bitzer State Fish Hatchery. There is one small pond there that is not netted and Artoo visits every day. There are a couple of utility poles at the north end of Green Pond that he is perching on – perhaps he’s prospecting for a nest site. This would be a lovely place for him. The Connecticut River is not far away and he has also visited the Miller River.

August 12, 2015
Artoo has settled along the North and Green Rivers in northern Massachusetts and southern Vermont. He went for a daytrip to Quabbin Reservoir on August 6, but quickly left – too many big bad eagles over there!! Seems to enjoy the river life.

July 30, 2015
Artoo settled down along the Blackwater River in Andover for a couple days. After getting a first upload of data on Monday morning that indicated he was still there, I headed over to see if I could see him. As luck would have it, he left as I arrived. I literally missed him by half an hour (!). At noon he was well to the south and headed for the Bradford area. His log in this morning shows that he is now exploring the Green River in northern Massachusetts and southern Vermont. We assume that this is all part of the exploration process and not the beginning of his trip south again . . . we hope!

July 25, 2015
Artoo REALLY made it home. After poking around in Vermont for a week or so, he seemed to get his bearings and made a beeline for central New Hampshire on Thursday. Yesterday afternoon he was fishing along the Blackwater River in Andover within a couple miles of the most westerly of the Lakes Region Osprey nest cluster (and just 22 miles from his natal nest in Bridgewater). As we expect with males, he has returned close to home. What an amazing journey. Since we put the transmitter on him on August 13, 2013, his point to point travel distance is 16,997 miles. Now he will likely roam around the Lakes Region visiting active nests and generally being a “pest”. I fully expect that he will visit Donovan’s, Gundersen’s and his dad’s nest in the coming weeks – all part of house hunting.

July 15, 2015
Artoo logged in last night from north of Montpelier, VT. He was as close as 43 miles from his natal nest yesterday afternoon, but continued north . . . there are always more rivers to explore! I think we can say he’s “home . . . ish”. After travelling more than 6,000 miles, I think we can cut him some slack. He has returned to the loose cluster of inland Osprey nests that are scattered across, VT, NH and ME. Good job. Now he should poke around for the next couple months bothering lots of breeding Ospreys trying to scope out an opportunity to establish a territory for next year. I hope he visits the Lakes Region before he heads south again (and I’d love to actually see him), but we’ll see.

July 14, 2015
So close . . . at 6 pm on Saturday, Artoo was almost in Vermont . . . just 85 miles from home. He made a nice push on Friday and Saturday headed straight for New Hampshire. Next data is Wednesday, so the question is, will he be home?

July 9, 2015
Artoo read the memo and made a right turn in New York towards New Hampshire. He is now just 205 miles from home!! The next data upload will be on July 12 . . . which is the day I predicted (back in June) that he would return to NH. Will he prove me right?

July 8, 2015
True to form, Artoo is exploring every river, stream, pond, lake, and puddle in northern PA. On July 6 he was very close to crossing into New York, but had only covered about 100 miles in 6 days. He is very close to re-crossing his 2013 southbound route in New York, so hopefully he’ll hang a right and start heading for New Hampshire, otherwise he’ll be in the Great Lakes.

June 30, 2015
6,000 miles down, 350 to go!! Artoo reached central Pennsylvania today. I took a quick tally of his point to point track since he left his winter home on March 31 and it has reached 5,968 miles – he hasn’t exactly taken the shortcut. He only has 350 miles to go to reach home. I went out on a limb last week and predicted that he will enter NH on July 12 . . . @ 2pm!! I hope he beats that wild guess. If he really put his mind to it, he could do that in two days, but knowing Artoo, he’s still got some procrastinating to do.

June 27, 2015
Artoo is making steady progress following the Appalachian Mountain chain. As of Friday evening he was just outside Washington. He is less than 450 miles from his natal nest in Bridgewater, NH. If keeps up his recent pace he could be back “home” in 5-6 days.

June 18, 2015
Artoo making progress in the right direction. Now in northern Georgia...almost in Tennessee.

June 15, 2015
Artoo did it the hard way! He made a long crossing of the Gulf and is now in Alabama. Welcome back to the USA.

June 9, 2015
Artoo missed the right turn to Florida. What now?...Yucatan? What a rooky.

June 3, 2015
Artoo is visiting every lake in Cuba . . . but he is making progress. Now he needs to turn right and head over the Florida. He certainly is creating a roadmap for himself for future reference.

May 29, 2015
Artoo is moving in the right direction, but he is easily distracted by his next meal. He's finding nice little lakes and rivers along the way and stopping off to cash in. Meanwhile back at the ancestral pile his mum and dad are hatching his latest batch of siblings. If he put his mind to it, he could be in Florida by his next upload, but . . . we'll see.

May 26, 2015
Artoo made it safely to Cuba. He made a direct flight from Venezuela, departing that shore before 7am on May 22 and making landfall just west of El Verraco at 9am on May 23. 26 hours of continuous flying over 677 miles of open ocean. He obviously wasn't out of breath, as he didn't even stop to rest, but kept on flying for another couple hours; arriving at a small lake near Dos Amantes at noon. He rested here for a couple hours and then did a little exploring for the remainder of the 23rd and 24th. On Sunday (25th) he was off again and headed north and west. He ended the day on a lake near Maniabon. He still has a long way to go, but has checked off one of the more hazardous portions of his journey.

May 22, 2015
Artoo Heads for Home!
After procrastinating on the Rio Matiyure in Venezuela for over three weeks, Artoo decided he was ready to renew his migration home. He quickly made his way to the coast over the last two days and left Paraguaná Peninsula by 7am this morning. He's cruising nicely and should reach Jamaica tonight. Talons crossed!!

May 7, 2015
Artoo is still camped out on the Rio Matiyure and has not renewed his journey north. My colleague Rob Bierregaard is pretty sure he will head north again soon . . . but I wonder. Time will tell. For now he's in a good spot -- remote, no people and obviously quite fishy.

April 29, 2015
Artoo is making up his own rules! After getting to Paraguaná Peninsula, Artoo seemed to really get cold feet about launching across the Caribbean. I assumed he might hang out for a day or two and then try again, but . . . he turned around and retreated more than 260 miles back to the Rio Matiyure where he spent several days between April 12 and April 18. Not sure what he will do next. This is a pretty major retreat. Will he forego a return to the US this year and stay in Venezuela or will the urge to head north kick in later? We'll just have to wait and see. I guess he really took a shine to the Matiyure.

April 28, 2015
Artoo seems a little reluctant to cross the Caribbean. As I suspected, when he retraced his steps last week, he headed for Paraguaná Peninsula, but when he reached the shore, he simply dipped his talon in the sea and then turned around and backtracked!! He roosted on the peninsula on the 24th/25th but then headed back south again about 50 miles! Not sure what he's playing at, other than he has cold feet. Next date download will be interesting.

April 24, 2015
Artoo reached the Venezuelan coast on the 21st and took a left turn following the shore of the Gulf of Venezuela. He reached the south end of Lake Maracaibo on the 22nd and spent the night there. He started the next day headed south but corrected himself and retraced his steps east again. My guess is that he is trying to find Paraguaná Peninsula which is THE launching point for most north bound Ospreys crossing the Caribbean in the spring. It is also where he first landed when he make his one and only southbound crossing on October 20, 2013. So . . . hopefully he will hang a left and find his way here and then continue over to Haiti. Remember, young Ospreys have no road map and Artoo has not learned the "safest" route to cross yet. He's finding his way and has done pretty well so far to retrace his steps over a 1,000 miles back to here.

April 21, 2015
Artoo is on the move again. After 6 days on the Rio Matiyure, he left there on April 18 and has now moved another 250km NNW towards the Venezuela coast. At the end of the day yesterday he was fishing along a river in the El Guache National Park in Araure, Venezuela. Another couple days and he could be crossing the Caribbean. ‎Meanwhile his mum and dad have started a new family. Yesterday Guin was sitting low in the nest indicating that she had laid their first egg of 2015.

April 18, 2015.
Artoo is taking a break and is exploring the Rio Matiyure for now. Youngsters on their first journey don't have the same sense of urgency that adults do. He doesn't have a "home" to race back to. Instinct is telling him to go north, but who knows if he really knows why.

April 14, 2015
Artoo is taking it easy for now in Venezuela. He moved about 30 miles north to the Rio Matiyure and settled there for the last couple days.

April 8, 2015
Artoo's dad, Art, made a spectacular return to his nest yesterday evening. Art wore Artoo's transmitter from May 2012 to August 2013 which allowed us to witness his fall migration route, his winter home, his spring migration route and two breeding seasons of foraging data. Even though he has not carried a transmitter since 2013 we can recognize him by the silver band on his left leg. (his mate -- Artoo's mum -- Guin has a silver band on her right leg). She arrived back at their Bridgewater nest on Thursday, but Art did not arrive home until about 6:10pm yesterday (April 7). On Sunday afternoon another male arrived on the scene and Guin chased him away. On Tuesday morning Guin was on the nest but "tchooping" (a special call that Ospreys only use when alarming at other unwelcome Ospreys) suggesting that the interloper male was still around. At 5:30pm yesterday that male was standing on the nest and Guin was nowhere to be seen. He flew off up river and shortly after, Guin flew up river and landed on the nest. A shrill call was echoing around the river valley. High overhead a male Osprey was performing a spectacular aerial display, known as a "skydance." It was Art. After ten minutes of really amazing loop-de-loop display, he dove down to land next to a clearly happy Guin, who chirped excitedly on the nest. Art's silver band was clear to see confirming that he had safely returned from his 9,000+ mile round-trip to the Rio Tocantins in Brazil. The photos show some of his aerial maneuvers and then perched next to Guin, back turned, head down and wings drooped in a characteristic submissive pose that males adopt when first greeting his mate (after a six months of separate vacations) or during early courtship with a new mate. Welcome back Art.

April 8, 2015
Artoo continues to make good progress. He only stayed one night on the Rio Ventuari. On April 5 he moved another 200 miles (322 km) and ended the day in the north-western corner of Bolivar region on Venezuela, not far from the main trunk of the Rio Orinoco. The next day he moved just 19 miles across the Orinoco and settled on one of many "oxbow" ponds just north of the river. He is just 30 miles from his first temporary Venezuelan home. He spent three months here from October 24, 2013 to January 22, 2014, before renewing his migration and heading to Brazil. He spent all of the 7th here and was still there this morning.

April 6, 2015
Artoo is making good progress and is already 550 miles from his winter home and cruising through Venezuela. On Saturday night he roosted on the Rio Ventuari in the Orinoco Basin. His last points on Sunday showed that he was headed north again.

April 3, 2015
Artoo’s mom – Guin – was back at their nest in Bridgewater this morning. There was no sign of Art (Artoo’s dad) but he may have been off looking for breakfast.

April 2, 2015
Artoo surprised us by leaving earlier than expected. This is his first migration north so we had no idea when the urge would kick in, but this is early (by a couple weeks) for a first timer. He left his winter home on the Rio Solimões on the morning of March 31 by the end of the day on April 1 has moved 167 miles (270km) north.

March 31, 2015
Artoo is still hanging tight in Brazil (which is expected). He might start north in a couple weeks and try to make his way back to New Hampshire. Will he find our nest platform here at the Science Center?

February 24, 2015
All quite from Artoo, but a couple other birds have started to stir. The map below shows the current positions of all the Satellite-tagged Ospreys. Snowy has already started her trip north and Edwin made a start and then retreated back into Brazil. Obviously spring is coming and soon all these birds will be heading back to the US. I don’t expect Artoo to start his return until around early April. You can follow the migration at this interactive map: http://www.ospreytrax.com/2015%20Spring%20All%20Birds.html

February 7, 2015
It’s been exactly a year since Artoo arrived on the Rio Solimoes. Over the last month or so he has stayed in a small area on the Solimoes and the Rio Tefe. Just a couple more months and he should head north for his first return migration.

January 5, 2015
Happy New Year to all our OspreyTrack fans . . . and to our Ospreys, Donovan, Artoo and Bridget.
Artoo has been wonderfully boring and normal for the whole month of December. He has stayed in the one area along the Rio Solimoes. Just four more months and he should start his first return migration back to New Hampshire, which will be really exciting to follow.

December 4, 2014
Artoo has a new favorite hangout just a couple miles to the north of the lake where he spent six months. He still visits that lake occasionally, but seems to prefer to fish on a backwater right on the Rio Solimoes.

October 29, 2014
Artoo has settled down on a stretch of the Rio Japura. He has spent most of the last week around a small island in the river with occasional explorations of small tributaries and oxbows. He’s in a lovely spot.

October 23, 2014
Artoo has made another move up the Rio Japura. Yesterday he headed up river and was hanging out today about 60 km from his October 8-22 location.

October 17, 2014
Artoo has settled down on an island in the Rio Japura. He has been fishing in a very small area. Good boy.

October 11, 2014
Artoo looks like he is settling in along the Rio Japura. He has been exploring along a stretch of the river and exploring some of the many nearby wetlands. He’s in a very remote area of the Amazon. The Google Earth images are not even real photos for that area.

October 8, 2014
After staying in the one spot for six months, Artoo up and moved on Sunday. He travelled 93km on the first day, then another 53km on Monday. She has settled for now on the Rio Japura about 170km NW from his home of the last six months. I suspect he might have been displaced by a returning adult who vacated the spot in March and returned to North America to breed. Now it's back for the winter and ran the youngster out of town.

September 18, 2014
Artoo has taken a couple of short road trips but comes right back to his lake and stretch of river.

September 2, 2014
Artoo is same old, same old on his little Amazonian lake. A creature of habit.

August 27, 2014
It’s been a while since I updated Artoo’s blog. I’m delighted to report that he is still hanging out on the same lake next to the Rio Solimões (Amazon) in Brazil. He is spending more time just about every day on the river, but returns each night to his favorite roost site near the unnamed lake. Hopefully he will spend the rest of the winter here. He arrived here in late March, so it’s possible that he claimed this territory after another Osprey(s) migrated north in the spring, so it’s equally possible he may have to defend the area when that Osprey returns to “its” winter home, but hopefully “possession is nine tenths of law” applies to Ospreys too. Here are a couple maps that show Artoo’s activity for the last 6 months and location map to remind you where he is in Brazil.

June 30, 2014
Artoo has been expanding his range – a tiny bit – and has visited the nearby river several times in the past few weeks, but generally he is really hunkered down on his little lake in Brazil. Last week, Weber’s transmitter started sending strong signals again from the same exact location where we lost her last September in northern Venezuela. We assume that the transmitter (likely still attached to Weber’s remains) was turned over – perhaps by a predator and the solar cell was exposed to the sun. If the solar cell is face-down and not exposed to the sun, then the transmitter battery will not charge and no signal will be sent. It’s always a little sad when a transmitter comes “back from the dead” like that. It’s in a remote spot, so retrieval of the $4,000 transmitter is unlikely!

June 3, 2014
Artoo still hasn’t moved outside a ½ sq. mile area near the Rio Solimões in Brazil. This is excellent news. The less the juveniles move, the less likely they are of getting into trouble.

May 1, 2014
Same old routine is the name of the game for Artoo. He is obviously finding all he needs on his little lake in Brazil. He has not moved outside a ½ square mile area in more than a month. I can rest easy.

April 18, 2014
Artoo has really settled down on this little pond next to the Rio Solimões. Since he arrived here on March 28, he has not left. The pond is only 1.5 miles long, so he’s really moved in. This is what we want to see. I would be happy if he didn’t move from this same pond for another year. His dad Art and his mom, now christened Guin, both returned safely to their nest in Bridgewater by April 7 and are settling in for another season.

April 7, 2014
Artoo made a little move on March 28. He headed 30 miles down the Rio Solimões and has settled in a lovely looking back water south of the river. There should be lots of vacated territories around him (after the adults head north) so he should do pretty well.

March 21, 2014
Artoo has definitely found a new home. He is really starting to blanket the map with his data points. He’s now been in this small area for nearly two weeks.

March 14, 2014
Artoo has found a nice spot between Rio Solimões and Rio Japurá and has lingered in a small area for the last five days. Maybe he’ll linger here a while. He’s been in this general area for several weeks now and has made a big loop along the Japurá. He gave me a big scare last Sunday when he missed his regular upload day. I feared the worst, but a day late, he logged in and is now on that new every three day schedule. Can’t explain why that happened – a transmitter hiccup – but am just glad he’s okay.

March 4, 2014
Artoo continues his explorations. He moved on March 1 further down what I now know is called the Furo Curaci and stopped at a spot where his brother Bergen has stopped off on November 6. He spent a day or so there but yesterday afternoon moved another 15 miles to join another river called the Parana Copea. He was perched next to that river at 3pm (local time) yesterday. I don’t expect any additional major moves from him and suspect he will settle down in this general area of Brazil. Soon all of the adults will be leaving to return to their breeding haunts and there will be a lot of vacant territories for him to occupy.

February 28, 2014
Artoo has settled down for now on a backwater of the Japura in the Maraã area of Amazonas. He arrived here on February 22 and as of 8am this morning was still there, foraging in a very small area. My only concern about this location is his proximity to some sort of human settlement/camp on the edge of the river. The patterns in the forest around the camp suggest human activity. The satellite image is from 2006, so there is no way to know what’s going on there now. We’ll see if he sticks around here for long.

February 22, 2014
Artoo continues to explore the upper reaches of the Amazon on a stretch of the River also called the Rio Solimões. He then headed over towards Rio Japura in a region of Brazil called Uarini. This looks like a lovely place to settle down with lots of backwaters and oxbows to fish in. It’s a very remote area with no roads and no signs of human activity (and no photos on Google Earth which means it’s really remote). Time to settle down again Artoo.

February 13, 2014
Bergen and Artoo’s tracks have crossed again. Artoo continues to explore along the Rio Amazonas and yesterday stopped off on a small lake (about a mile long) just to the south of the river. Bergen had stopped off at this exact spot for a couple hours on November 7 before moving on south.

The sad news this week was that we lost Whit. He was a juvenile from Gloucester, MA who was hanging out on the coast of Venezuela. His signal suddenly stopped moving next to a major road. Rob sent out a plea for help on an international bird research listserv and within 90 minutes had local help. Whit’s body was found at the exact GPS location and the transmitter was recovered. This means that Bergen and Artoo are now the only survivors of the eight juveniles that Rob tagged in 2013. Our boys are beating the odds.

February 4, 2014
Artoo has settled down for now just to the south of the main trunk of the Amazon on the outflow from the huge Lago Mamia and Lago Matamaru. He’s about 90 miles from his brother. Maybe he’ll settle down here.

January 30, 2014
Artoo has pushed south another 200 miles crossing the River Negro and has landed in the middle of the Jau National Park, which is the largest forest reserve in South America (5.6 million acres!) He arrived on the Jau River at 5pm on Monday and has been exploring since. This looks like a fabulous place to hang out. He’s now within about 230 miles of his brother Bergen.

January 28, 2014
Artoo Heads South.
After camping out just north of the Orinoco River since October, Artoo suddenly decided it was time to explore again. Artoo left at 10am on January 22 and travelled south a little over 100 miles before resting for the night. At 8am on 23rd he was perched along a remote river (possibly called the Rio Bajo). By 9am he was well on his way again. He logged another 125 miles ending the day along another remote river inside the huge Jaua-Sarisarinama National Park. He spent the early morning fishing along the river, then was on his way again by 11am. He covered another 146 miles, ending the day in the Roraima region of northern Brazil. By 9am on the 25th he was off again. At 3pm he was fishing along a small river. He roosted nearby (another 111 miles covered in the day) and was back on the river at 9am the next morning. By 10am he was headed south. The last GPS point at 2pm on the 26th showed he was close to the Rio Xeriuini having covered another 136 miles. His last non-GPS point (at 6pm) would suggest that he continued another 44 miles along the river. He's now approaching the Rio Negro (a major tributary of the Amazon). He’s covered more than 620 miles in five days.

January 2, 2014
Nothing much new from Artoo or any of our New Hampshire birds. All settled and quiet. This map shows the current known locations of 15 Ospreys being tracked right now with PTTs. The three juveniles (Artoo, Bergen, and Whit) will stay down in South America throughout 2014, but the other 12 (all adults) will return to North America in March/April. It’s going to be a busy spring.

December 2, 2013
Artoo has clearly found his winter home and has now been here for well over a month. He and Donovan remain close neighbors and apparently have not crossed paths. Their respective favorite fishing spots are about 20 miles apart. Transmitter uploads have been as regular as clockwork every three days, so it’s been a relaxing few weeks for me.

November 12, 2013
No change from Artoo. He’s still in the same spot. All is well.

November 8, 2013
Artoo is still camped out in the same spot. Nice strong data uploads from the same area, so all is well. This map shows his route (so far) compared to his brother Bergen and his father Art.

November 5, 2013
Artoo is still in the same spot, although he did do a little exploring down towards the Rio Clara. For much of the last two days, he was with 13 miles of Donovan, who of course is also on his winter home on the Rio Clara.

November 1, 2013
Artoo checked in on time and is still camped out in the same location. He’s falling into a routine, with favorite roost sites and preferred fishing spots. The whole area is just a mosaic of wetlands. The first map below is from Google, the second is a sharper satellite image from Bing that shows a close up of Artoo’s core territory.

October 29, 2013
Donovan and Artoo are neighbors for the time being. Artoo has settled down less than 20 miles from Donovan and they are both obviously enjoying the rich and numerous wetlands here. Donovan I’m sure is on his winter territory and will stay here until March, but we’ll see if this is a temporary stopover for Artoo, or whether this is the end of his migration.

October 28, 2013
Artoo has continued to move south-south-east towards the great Orinoco River basin. He is spoilt for choice when it comes to eating. There are hundreds of backwaters and river channels to choose from. Amazingly he has ended up within 20 miles of Donovan. They started out from nests 18 miles apart in New Hampshire, travelled more than 3,000 miles and are now about 20 miles apart in Venezuela. Of course Artoo may keep going, but if he can find a vacant territory here, he would be wise to claim it. It would be remarkable if, given the choice of more than three million square miles of potential winter range, two of our New Hampshire birds ended up so close.

October 23, 2013
Artoo obviously didn’t find his overnight crossing of Caribbean too strenuous as he kept going for more than 100 more miles before stopping to roost. He has continued on a SW track over the last couple days and is now 300 miles from the coast headed towards the great Orinoco River basin – a haven for wintering Ospreys. Good choice young man.

October 22, 2013
Here is a map of Artoo’s crossing from the Dominican Republic to Venezuela. The moon was pretty full, so if it was clear (which it should have been) then he picked a good night to cross. Where now?

October 20, 2013
Artoo left Higuey by 2pm on 18th. He flew SE to coast (38km) turned around & roosted halfway back. He returned to Higuey by 10am on 19th! He was in Higuey for an hour then was off again back to coast. He left D.R. at 1pm on 19th. Arrived 10am today on Cabo de San Roman (760km). Artoo arrived at the same spot where his dad Art did on Oct. 5, 2012 when he crossed from D.R. Art went another 3000km. Where will Artoo go?

October 18, 2013
Artoo is lingering on the edges of the town of Higuey in eastern Dominican Republic. He has a favorite roost spot on the west side of town (near the baseball field … they love their baseball in the D.R.) and fishes along two rivers that loop around the town and merge. He seems to be doing fine, but we really don’t want him to stay here. Ospreys are still shot in D.R., so better to keep moving after refuel.

October 14, 2013
Artoo is making his way east through the Dominican Republic -- maybe he's also heading for Puerto Rico.He stopped off to fish just outside San Cristobal and then skirted around the city of Santo Domingo. He's now within 50 miles of the eastern coast of the D.R. Where next?

October 11, 2013
Artoo and Bergen have both arrived in the Dominican Republic. Artoo took the short hop from Cuba to Haiti on October 8, while Bergen made a longer over water crossing later that evening, arriving in western Haiti at midnight. Bergen quickly made his way to Cabo Beata on the southern-most tip of D.R. His last data point from yesterday (at 11 a.m.) had him moving south again towards the “great launch point” across the Caribbean. Artoo took a more northern route to D.R. and roosted north of the town of Barahona. His last point from 10am today showed him heading further east.

October 8, 2013
Artoo has made a steady flight through Cuba since crossing from Florida on October 1, and is now ready to cross to Haiti. His brother Bergen is right there with him. The downloads from the PTTs are not on the same day, so it’s a race where it’s hard to know who is winning.

October 7, 2013
Artoo and his brother Bergen are now following a similar track – and their paths have crossed multiple times. After flying within half a mile of each other on September 23 @ 1pm (after spending weeks apart since Artoo left the nest on August 16), they both took a remarkably similar over-ocean path directly south from the North Carolina coast that night and then looped back to the Georgia coast by early the next morning. They then separated and followed different paths through Florida, but on September 30, roosted just over 4 miles apart in southern Florida. Artoo crossed over to Cuba on October 1 and Bergen followed on October 4. Will they meet up again?

October 1, 2013
A quick update from Iain: New maps coming later in the week (I've been out of town). Here is a quick overview. Artoo is in Cuba and Bergen was on southern tip of Florida (likely has crossed to Cuba now). Both moving along nicely. Weber is heading east in northern Venezuela. So our three NH chicks are leading the pack of eight in the "class of 2013." Three of the eight have died so far, so our trio is beating the odds. Donovan is in the Dominican Republic and will be crossing the Caribbean in the next couple days. The sad news to report is that we lost Mackenzie. His signal stopped more than a week ago and yesterday I found his remains next to Head Pond in Berlin. He had been predated. All evidence points to Great Horned Owl -- the Osprey's "public enemy #1" The Movebank maps show all the details.

September 26, 2013
Amaxingly, Bergen and Artoo followed the exact same route at the same time and both ended up on the shore of Georgia at about the same time. They may have met up or just picked up the same north wind.

September 23, 2013
Artoo is now close to his brother Bergen. He's just west of Chesapeake Bay. He will discover salt water for the first time soon.

September 11, 2013
Artoo is still in the same general vicinity in PA. He is exploring various streams and looks like he might have found a small fish farm (!) to check out. Clearly having too much fun. When will he move?

September 6, 2013
Artoo has settled in near the city of Lock Haven, Clinton County, Pennsylvania, which is located near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek. He seems to particularly favor fishing along Bald Eagle Creek. He arrived there on the 29th and doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to move on.

August 29, 2013
Artoo is slowly making his way through PA. He has stopped off along a number of rivers and on his last download was on a more southern than western track. Perhaps he’s seeing other Ospreys heading south and realizes that he is one of them . . . and maybe he should follow them. The map below show his route compared to his brother Bergen who is on the Virginia coast.

August 23, 2013
Artoo is still on the same river in western NY.

August 19, 2013
Artoo spent his first night on Forest Lake near Winchester, NH. On the morning of the 17th, he spent a little time fishing on the Ashuelot River and then crossed the Connecticut River between Hinsdale and Brattleboro, then made a steady flight through southern Vermont, briefly in north-west Massachusetts and quickly into New York. By 4 pm he was hunting along the Hudson River just south of Albany. He spent the night there -- having travelled another 70 miles on the 17th On the 18th, he was on his way between 9 and 10am. He moved another 109 miles on the 18th, ending the day on the Tioughnioga River near Chenango Forks in Broome County, NY. Meanwhile his brother Bergen was still being fed by mom on the nest on Sunday.

August 16, 2013
STOP THE PRESS!! Artoo is on his way! Much to my surprise, Artoo left the home territory yesterday morning and by 5 pm he was near Keene, almost 70 miles from the nest. This is early for a youngster to leave, so he will probably find somewhere with lots of fish to hole up for a few weeks before really heading south. I guess we tagged him just in time!!

August 15, 2013
Artoo is Art’s son and Bergen’s brother. He is one of three recently fledged chicks from Art’s nest in Bridgewater. His transmitter used to be Art’s transmitter. He was caught (along with Art and Bergen) on August 12, 2013. Artoo has already been on an adventure. On August 14 he left the nest area at 8am and was over on White Oak Pond where he hung out for a couple hours. This is a pond that Art has only fished on once (back in May) so I don’t suspect that Artoo was following Art. If I didn’t know Art’s regular fishing spots, so well, I would probably have assumed that Artoo was tagging along with dad. Artoo then headed south and by 11am was in Meredith close to Lake Waukewan. By noon he was just west on Lake Winnisquam, and by 1pm he was perched next to a small unnamed pond in Sanbornton where he stayed for a couple hours. At 3 pm he was perched next to Rollins Pond along Rt. 132. At 4 pm he was flying north, parallel to I-93 and just north of Hermit Lake. At 5 pm was near Pemigewasset Lake and by 6 pm he was perched on the shore of Hawkin’s Pond in New Hampton – a regular fishing spot for Art. There was an extra point at 8 pm that indicated he was still on Hawkins. Maybe Artoo will be the adventurer (like Chip last year) and depart the nest area early. Our ultimate hope for these juveniles is that they will return in a couple years (youngsters stay in South America for two winters and don’t return “home” until they are two years old) to establish a territory and breed here in the Lakes Region. Males usually breed with 10 miles of the nest they were hatched in. He certainly seemed to be exploring various wetlands outside of Art’s regular territory, perhaps creating a mental map of the neighborhood for future reference.