The eagle has landed and the results are in! Congratulations to Mrs. Berger's class of Roslyn, New York for the nearest nest guess! They even beat scientist Peter Nye. He came in for a close second place, but only beat Oshkosh, Wisconsin students by a very narrow margin. Nice going Oshkosh! (In fairness, Nye placed his guess way back on April 3rd when the eagle had just crossed the U.S. border into Canada.)
Here are the results:
Location of the nest: 53.14 N, 67.41 W
First Place Mrs. Berger's Class Roslyn, New York Guessing: Opiskoto Lake 53.00 N, 68.00 W
Second Place Eagle Scientist Peter Nye Guessing: Ashuanipi Lake 52.50 N, 66.50 W
Third Place Mr. McMahon's Students South Park Middle School, Oshkosh, Wisconsin Guessing: 54.17 N, 66.22 W
Lesson in Nest-Guessing On what basis did scientist Peter Nye formulate his nest- guessing hypothesis? Think back to mid-March. Remember how loooooooooooooooong we waited for this eagle to leave New York? On March 15th, Nye worried that she might not be a Canadian nester as he'd expected. Perhaps she was actually a New York resident, unlike the majority of eagles that winter in New York and go back to Canada to nest. Perhaps she wouldn't migrate at all!
Nye said there were two ways to explain why she was still on her "wintering" grounds in mid-March. Either she was a New York bird whose nest hadn't been found before OR this bird would head far, far to the north. The further north her nest, he reasoned, the later she would depart from the wintering grounds. It makes sense, doesn't it, to stay where the weather is warm until the spring thaw finally reaches Labrador? (Remember, last year's eagle began her migration a full 3 weeks earlier. She left the New York wintering grounds on March 7th and was already at her final destination by April 5th. She didn't go nearly as far north, reaching just 48 N, 75 W)
Many birds do this, so many if fact, that there's even a name for it: It's called "leapfrog migration". That is, birds of the same species that winter the farthest south travel the farthest north to nest. Our 1995 eagle, and presumably others that winter in New York and nest in Labrador, leapfrog across the migratory path of our 1994 eagle and others that nest in southern Quebec.
The peregrine falcons that nest in Alaska provide another example of leapfrog migration. This is an extreme case. The "Alaskan" peregrines travel from the arctic all the way to the southern hemisphere for the winter. They leapfrog across other peregrine populations that stay in the lower 48 U.S. states all year-round. In some ways leapfrog migration is like musical chairs. The birds that don't migrate as far take the closest "chairs" (habitat) forcing the others to travel further.
Students Answer Previous CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
Q. On April 30th our eagle crossed out of Quebec and into a new Canadian Province. What is the name of this Province and what is the mainland portion called?
A. We think the eagle is in Labrador, the mainland part of the province of Newfoundland, near the Smallwood Reservoir. The Vikings had a settlement in Labrador in the 10th century. Europeans liked Labrador for fishing and established fishing communities in the early 1500's. The Jackson Eagle Team, Pao, Long, DeMarcus, Amanda, Mai Chao, Pachi, Ace, and Carol. Jackson School jackson@solon.com
A. The answer to question number 2 is Labrador, as the mainland name and the name of the province is Newfoundland, Canada. South Park Middle School Oshkosh, Wisconsin mcmahonb@vaxa.cis.uwosh.edu