Jan 13

Written by: Research Department
1/13/2008 11:58 AM

January 11-12
Our trek to Tierra del Fuego (means "Land of Fire" in Spanish) to monitor Red Knot populations on their wintering grounds began today.   For me it started with a 90 mile drive to Philadelphia International Airport from my house in Atlantic County, NJ.  Here I met up with my colleagues, Larry Niles, Amanda Dey and Steve Gates, who drove a similar distance from the Trenton/Princeton area. 

Larry, Mandy and Steve are old hands at this trip having made it annually since 2000.  We arrive about three hours early because there's lots of equipment to check in.  The team takes almost all of the equipment needed to trap and mark Red Knots –   cannon nets, mist nets, measuring and weighing equipment.  We also carry binoculars and spotting scopes to conduct surveys as well as essential personal equipment like sleeping bags, sleeping pads, cooking gear, etc.

Just before departing on our first leg of the journey, we fueled up on fish, chips and beer.  From Philadelphia we took a nonstop flight to Miami (~1000 miles).  We had a two hour layover and departed for Santiago, Chile at about 11:45 PM local time.  The Miami to Santiago flight is a nonstop, nine hour flight that covers 5000 miles.  Just after departure the flight crew feed us.  An hour of work on the blog then I'm off to bed.  Five hours later  (about 6:30 EST, January 12) I'm awake and being fed by the flight crew again.  I wonder if they got any sleep. 

We touch down at about 9:30 AM (7:30 AM EST) and spend the next few hours getting through Customs.  At about 11:00 AM local time we meet up with another member of the team, Humphrey Sitters, who is also well-seasoned after many TDF campaigns.  Humphrey's flight to Santiago started in London with a stopover in Madrid, Spain.  His flight from Madrid lasted more than 13 hours and spanned 6500 miles, much of it over the Atlantic Ocean.  I bet they fed him well on his flights too. 

We have about three before we board for our last flight, which takes us to Punta Arenas, Chile, so we decide to get something to eat.  You can never get enough fuel on these kinds of trips.  There's also money changing to do and setting up cell phone service in Chile.  Exchange rates are ~500 Chilean pesos to one US dollar.  I change $160 US and after exchange fees I get back about 73,000 pesos.  Felt deceptively rich at that point but this was short-lived when I found out that lunch cost about 4,000 pesos. 

The flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas was relatively short, only about four hours and 1300 miles. I spent most of my time reviewing the life list possibilities in my newly acquired "Birds of Chile" field guide.  We arrive in Punta Arenas about 7:00 PM and check into a hotel – more rest for the weary, more food for the hungry.

I've provided this somewhat boring and long-winded account of our epic journey in excruciating detail to draw what may already be an obvious analogy.  Think a moment about what a Red Knot experiences as it travels the 20,000 miles round trip between its Arctic breeding grounds and its winter digs in Tierra del Fuego.  On some legs of the journey, knots fly 3,500 miles nonstop over open ocean.  Before undertaking each leg of their trip they must rest and refuel, and they better be well prepared.  There's not much margin for error – no in-flight crew to feed them when they run out of fuel, no napping on the wing.   Like the jets we fly, they must have enough fuel to complete the trip. Though not quite the same, we're also  using  the food we consume to power our trip.  Certainly the stakes aren't as high if we get a little peckish.       

Our travels are not quite over but the worst is behind us.  Total hours traveling: ~24.  Total miles traveled: 7200 miles (Humphrey: ~8200 miles).  Tomorrow, we drive two hours to the ferry that takes us across the Straits of Magellan to Bahia Lomas, where the study sites are.  Can't wait. 


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