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Satellite Collar News from Martin Kienzler
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Martin Kienzler is a wildlife technician for the Northern
Region of the Yukon based in Dawson City. He is responsible for most
of the work necessary for collaring and data collection for the caribou
cows we are tracking in the Arctic. This week (February 26, 2003) he
sends this information about the satellite collars and news about our
gals:
Satellite location data that we publish each update can be confusing.
The data are not released immediately for the safety of the herd. In
addition, you will notice this week that there is no data for Lupine,
who last gave location data on January 12. Her collar is getting to
the end of its battery life and probably the reason for missing data.
We hope to re-collar Lupine in March.
Lucky and Lynetta
remain on the air though they should have gone off August and November
of 2001. We cannot recapture these two (or Blixen although if we could,
we definitely would try) because their VHF radio transmitters do not
work, and never have. Remember, the satellite collar only gives a general
location around 250 to 1000 yards, but you need the radio transmitter
to actually find the caribou on the ground, especially when the caribou
may be in a group of many thousand other caribou.
Blixen’s collar
expires in November 2003. She was first collared in Oct. 1997, so we
have over 5 years of data on her migration. Unfortunately, we can’t
re-collar her this spring because her VHF radio transmitter does not
work.
Cupid and Lupine
were scheduled to go off the air this past November, so we would like
to change out their collars this spring before they do.
Donner has some time left
on her collar, but it wasn’t programmed correctly, and transmits
only every second week, whereas the others transmit every week for most
of the year, then every second day during the period of calving. Donner
will get a new collar this March.
Both Catherine’s
and Isabella’s collars
are going strong. They were given their collars in March 2002 and we
expect them to be transmitting until at least August 2004. Their collars
transmit weekly location data to the satellite.
ADF&G and USF&WS are providing 5 of the collars, Parks Canada,
Western Arctic office in Inuvik, Canada is buying the 6th. The current
price of a new ST-14 satellite collar is $2714.00 (US dollars).
Copyright 2003 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form
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