A turkey vulture that nested near Leoville, Sask., has flown as far south as Honduras.
Bird enthusiast Stuart Houston of Saskatoon and others are tracking the bird, fitted with a radio transmitter, to determine the migration path of the turkey vultures of the northern plains.
“We’re the first in North America to be getting these reports. We’re in the right place at the right time,” said Houston, who has been tagging birds for 62 years.
Every two days, the team receives reports that are accurate to within two kilometres of the bird’s location.
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It is the first time a transmitter has been placed on a nestling turkey vulture in North America, Houston said.
Turkey vultures nesting in British Columbia typically winter in California, while those from New England fly to Florida.
Bird counters in Mexico, have estimated that more than a million of these birds fly by every fall. Few knew until now where they started their journey.
Houston tagged 30 birds at 17 Saskatchewan nest sites with Brent Terry and Michael Blom of Saskatoon. Farmers helped by alerting them to birds in abandoned farm buildings, now a common nesting ground for the birds.
The bird tagged Aug. 5 began its southern migration on Sept. 22, flying more than 600 kilometres one day during its journey south.
Its stops included Moose Mountain in Saskatchewan, Sioux City, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States and Vera Cruz, Mexico, before flying on to Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua this month.
The bird had travelled 5,100 kilometres from its nest in Saskatchewan by Nov. 29.
In the future, Houston would like to learn more about when the birds nest and where they live before breeding.
Their nesting grounds have included black bear dens, caves and vacant farm buildings, where they keep their young on the floor or ground.
Houston hopes farmers who see tagged turkey vultures returning next year will contact him at 306-244-0742.
The tagged ones will sport green and white tags the size of cattle ear tags. The bird with the transmitter is tagged No. 25.
