This male was banded as an immature by Steve Huy after being trapped March 14, 2014 by APHIS Wildlife Services at Martin State Airport in Baltimore, MD, and relocated to western Maryland. Baltimore was recaptured at Martin State Airport on Feb. 13, 2015, fitted with a transmitter and relocated to Assateague Island National Seashore, MD, on Feb. 14, 2015.
In 2015, Baltimore reappeared in December and spent the winter of 2015-16 on and around Amherst Island in northeast Lake Ontario, and was last detected March 27, 2016, just north of Lake Ontario. Baltimore checked back in for the first time on Christmas Day, 2016, and began uploading stored spring and summer data from his transmitter. Unfortunately, his transmitter failed before sending all of its data. Baltimore wintered near Arnprior, ON, in the Ottawa River Valley, and evaded multiple attempts to retrap him and remove his malfunctioning trasnmitter. He was monitored visually all winter, however, and was last detected in late March 2017, when he apparently migrated north.
In late 2017 Baltimore returned to the Arnprior area, and in February 2018 he was retrapped, his transmitter removed and released. Based on similarities in plumage and behavior, it appears Baltimore reoccupied his winter territory near Arnprior for the third year in 2018-19, but he was not definitively identified thereafter.
Baltimore’s transmitter was sponsored by the Baltimore Bird Club. Please consider a donation of your own to Project SNOWstorm to help further our work.
Baltimore was featured in NPR’s Skunk Bear video series, giving a fascinating view of his behavior and the locations he visited.