Like other “snowbirds” these Minnesota residents are using GPS as they travel south for the winter. But what’s different about these migrants is that they’re the real thing — Minnesota’s state bird, in fact.

Carroll Henderson of the DNR says satellite technology will help determine whether the gulf oil spill has an impact on migrating loons. He says nine loons from Minnesota and Wisconsin have been fitted with satellite transmitters. About three-fourths of all loons spend their winter months in the Gulf of Mexico. The public can track the monitored birds by clicking on “Loons and the gulf oil spill” at the DNR’s website.