Students at John Adams Middle School interviewed the U.S. scientist who invents and manufactures satellite transmitters such as those worn by the animals we're tracking this spring. Here's what they learned:
Falcon Transmitter
Dr. Paul Howey is the inventor and producer of the radio transmitter for tracking wildlife. His professional training is as a biologist and physicist. In 1976 he conceived the idea of making a miniature radio transmitter for the tracking of wildlife. His first design was the size of a shoebox, but by 1984 he was able to reduce the weight of the transmitter to 250 grams. Now, ten years after the 250 gram transmitter, Dr. Howey has it down to 15 grams ( approximately one half of an ounce)! His original reason for making a miniature radio transmitter was to track falcons in Greenland. It was decided to make the transmitter 5% of the original body weight of the bird. This was about 28-30 grams for a 700-900 gram bird.
The transmitter is used on many different animals beside the falcon. These animals include different birds, from the peregrine to albatross, ducks, geese, swans, cranes, eagles, harpy eagles, wolves, turtles, whales, elephants, beluga whales, and sea lions. In order to attach it to the falcon the naturalists use a strap that crosses over the front of the bird which is attached to a transmitter on the bird's back. The straps are made of a very strong teflon ribbon.
There are many different ways for attaching the transmitters to animals. For example, albatross transmitters are glued on and some are even implanted inside the birds. This process is painless and less distracting to the bird than a bulky transmitter that might interfere with the bird's habits. Whales either have the transmitter implanted into their body or bolted onto their dorsal fin. Once the skin grows over the transmitter, the bolts fall off. For turtles it is glued to their shell. The wolves and elephants have a collar around their necks and the seal's transmitters are glued directly to their fur. For the falcon the transmitter is placed only on the female birds, for the male falcons are too small for the transmitter. Scientists are still attempting to design a smaller transmitter.
Originally, all of our falcons were expected to go to South America. However, as you now know, most of them went to Central America. Back when there were no transmitters big enough for the falcons, you had to be near the animal to track it. That presented problems if you were in a plane and were following a bird. When you began running low on fuel, you would have to break off contact and land to get more fuel. The bird obviously wouldn't wait for the naturalists to refuel. Many times when they were ready to track the bird again it would be gone. Another problem of the old recievers involved the direction of the receiver. You had to have the receiver facing in the right direction in order to get the bird's signal.
The satellites on which the receivers are located are weather satellites, NOAA 12 and NOAA 14. When the receiver picks up the signal it measures the frequency, time, date and the bird ID number. The recorder on the satellite then downloads the information into the main computers at the ARGOS offices in Seattle, Washington or Landover, Maryland. Originally, the information comes down as raw data. Then we interpret the data and send it online for you to use. Neat!!
THE FALCON SQUAD JOHN ADAMS MIDDLE SCHOOL ROCHESTER, MN, USA 0535jajh@informns.k12.mn.us
Journey North 125 North First Street Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401 Phone: (612)339-6959