Here in western Alaska the bulk of the breeding Gyrfalcons are fledging young at the moment. We were able to install all ten cameras in nests this summer, and starting tomorrow will begin taking them out of the finished nests. I’ve been extremely pleased with the quality of the images that these cameras take. I’ll be spending all winter sorting through the photos to identify prey items brought to the nest. This will be a long process, as I should have somewhere around 1.2 million photos to look through. Quite an undertaking, but I’m excited to start the task.

It’s been a tough season to this point, full of challenges and some failures, but I’m happy with the success we’ve had to this point. Getting all ten cameras placed was a goal of mine, and I’m happy to have that success. For my first year, and the first year of the project, it has gone well. Above all it has been nothing short of an education. There are certainly fruits in difficulties, mistakes, and failures. Next year, I’ll have some experience to draw upon to increase the success and further the project goals.