Chatty, a 6-week-old peregrine falcon, is outfitted with radio and satellite tracking gear at Rock City before being released.Lookout, one of two peregrine falcons released at Rock City this summer, continues to show why peregrine means “wanderer” or “pilgrim.”
The solar-powered satellite tracking device the falcon wears in a mesh backpack shows he has flown now to the Bay of Campeche just southwest of the Yucatan Peninsula — clear across the Gulf of Mexico.
“He is completely impressing us,” said Dale Kernahan, who with her falconer husband, John Stokes, raised and released Lookout. “He was in Texas for a few days and we got nervous because [Tropical Storm] Lee was moving in. Then he went south to the Gulf. Then three days later he was in the Yucatan. He flew 700 miles in three days across the Gulf of Mexico.”
Now the 3-month-old raptor, who fledged on July 11 from a Rock City cliff, is right in the throes of Tropical Storm Nate.
“He’s now entering a dangerous phase of his journey,” Stokes said Friday. “Even without the storm, he’s in a whole new area where other tropical birds could catch him or he could be shot. Go little guy, go.”