While in Florida recently, Prof. Morrison successfully captured and tagged a Crested Caracara, the raptor she has been studying there for over 20 years. This caracara will be helping Prof Morrison test new transmitter technology. The transmitter, seen on the bird’s back, operates on the cell phone networks, collecting accurate GPS locations on the bird every 3 hours then transmitting data to the cell towers every 12 hours. This transmitter operates using a solar-charged battery. After only a few weeks, a pretty good picture of the caracara’s home range has emerged! The intent of this effort is to evaluate effectiveness of this new GPS/GSM technology for eventual use in a longer term study focused on determining how breeding caracaras throughout Florida respond to habitat conversion within their home range.
