|
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A female ferruginous pygmy owl took a 150-mile crisscross trek across the Sonoran Desert to search for a mate, a journey about seven times longer than any previously recorded by state researchers monitoring the endangered birds.
Researchers lost track of the owl early last year once it entered southern Arizona's Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation and a radio transmitter mounted on her back died.
"We assume that when they move this far that they are not encountering males," said Dennis Abbate, one of six state biologists who tracked the female owl. "This is an unusual bird, quite robust and quite healthy. It was certainly finding plenty of food. It probably suggests that there are very few males out there, at least in the areas it traveled."
|