Chatty and Lookout

S.O.A.R.
Save Our American Raptors

The two of the three brothers that went into the hack box at Rock City are named Chatty and Lookout. Chatty has been fitted with a radio transmitter. However, one of the two brothers, Lookout, has been fitted with a solar-powered satellite transmitter (purchased with a grant from the Benwood Foundation). This satellite transmitter should allow us to track Lookout’s movements anywhere in the world for several years.

Click here to be directed to our blog, which has Lookout’s latest movements and more data from his satellite transmitter.

The Release

To fix the satellite transmitter to Lookout, we actually removed him from the hack box for a few days, fitted him with the backpack style transmitter and allowed him to fly in a small flight pen to get used to the transmitter. We did some final checks of the transmitter and harness arrangement and everything looked good. We placed Lookout back in the hack box the morning of his release, July 11, 2011, before first light. At about 5:55 a.m., with a crowd gathered behind the house of Rock City Owner Bill Chapin, we lowered the front release door. After about 15 minutes, Chatty emerged onto the release door ledge. Lookout joined him within ten minutes and soon they were both flapping and stretching their wings. After a bit, a breeze came through and Lookout made his first flight to freedom. His flight looked good and strong and was apparently unhampered by the satellite transmitter. He made a 360 degree circle, probably to help him scope out his surrounding, flew to the south of the release site and landed in a tree near a house. Chatty took his time and flapped more. He also watched bugs and other birds fly by, all with much amusement! Several times we thought he was going to take off, only to settle down again. He also played with the cord used to lower the front. After about an hour of this, he caught every ones attention as he launched from the box, only to land on the rock ledge directly below it. He spent another ten to fifteen minutes flapping and checking out things and when a small breeze came though, off he went. His first flight was pretty as he flew out in front of the cliff, made a huge circle and flew to the south well past where Lookout had landed.

With Chatty out of the release area, We trudged over to where we thought Lookout had landed. As it turns out, he was on a limb on a large oak tree near the bluff and as we approached, he took flight once again. He dove slightly to build up speed and then climbed and flew well past Lover's Leap, about 1/8th of a mile away.

Where Are They Now?

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this release is that Lookout is fitted with a PTT-100 22 grams Solar Satellite Telemetry device. This device is enhanced with a Global Positioning System (GPS) and a battery that is recharged by the sun. This is the latest in technology and will allow this unit to transmit readings for up to three years. The PTT-100 will take ten location readings a day and then transmit the information every three days, then the information received is put through a special program called a parser. The program will then analyze the data and give us a detailed picture of the birds location and movements.

The most valuable aspect of this information is, historically this is the first time a Peregrine Falcon has been tracked with Satellite Telemetry from the southern region of the United States.

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Lookout’s movement from July 11, 2011 to August 7, 2011.
Please click here to check out our blog for the latest information on Lookout’s flight and to see our interactive and detailed maps of Lookout.

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