Humple helps track the long migration of Point Reyes sparrows to Alaska
Using small electronic tags, Marin scientists have been able to track the surprisingly long migration of golden-crowned sparrows to Alaska and back to Point Reyes.
Biologists from PRBO Conservation Science based at the Palomarin Field Station near Bolinas attached the small tags to 33 sparrows wintering in and near Point Reyes National Seashore in 2010 before they headed north on spring migration.
When the birds returned the following fall, four tagged birds were recaptured. The tags were removed from a device that held it to their backs and the data downloaded to a computer.
"This is new technology was developed only recently, that's why we can now do this type of research," said Diana Humple, PRBO's Palomarin Field Station Manager and a co-author of the study.