Now that the field season is over it is time to work on data and decide what things to look at in the future. I have a few ideas that I am studying and going to write proposals for. One thing I would like to see done is a raptor study on the coastline of Katmai National Park. The peregrine falcon being one of those raptors. There has not been too much work done in this field. In 1993 there was a study that looked at the peregrine falcon. In 1989 the exxon oil spill occurred and people always here about Prince William Sound being hit hard, what they don't know is that the Katmai Coast got most of the oil. But being the Katmai coast is hard to get to, it did not get much attention. Today there are still traces of that oil spill on the coastline.
After the oil spill, raptor studies were performed above and below Katmai but no one looked at our coast. I would like to get some kind of baseline on our raptors before another big incident happens so that we will know where things stand. Peregrines, the bird of focus of discussion today, eat sea birds. The coast line has many seabirds so we should be able to find peregrines on our coast. In the 1993 study only one peregrine falcon was seen. Was this from the oil spill? No one knows but I hope to see what our coastline has now.
A raptor study of a rocky coast would consist of helicopter surveys, and time on a boat traveling parallel to the coast looking for eyrie, the name given to a raptor nest. Doing this kind of survey will take money so I have asked the avian person at the US Fish and Wildlife Office to team up with me. She is all excited. So next step write the proposal. It may not be exciting now but if we get the funding it will make the next field season pretty exciting.
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