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Bald Eagle Migration Update: March 9, 2005 Today's Report Includes:
Field Notes from Peter Nye Hello J-North Eagle Trackers:
My winter-eagle specialist Kathy Michell and I were out trapping yesterday, one last ditch effort to catch an adult eagle for tracking purposes. As I've said before, it gets tough this late in the winter, as many eagles have begun to depart already and most are on the move or staging to go. The good thing for us about trapping this time of the year is that most of our resident breeders are actively at and working on their nests, so we are likely to get only migrants at our bait stations. Due to snow levels precluding access to our preferred Delaware River trapping location, Kathy and I baited and trapped at a nearby site along the Mongaup River. Both of these sites are within the area we refer to as the Upper Delaware River eagle wintering area, and eagles move regularly between these two sites. Many of our previously captured and tracked migrants have come from this site (refer to the archives). At any rate, we completed set-up just as it was dawning at about 0545, and just as a few "early-bird" eagles were flying over our heads departing from their night roosts. We had about two dozen eagles in the immediate area of our trap-set, but mostly all morning 3-4 dozen ravens and crows were ravaging our deer carcass bait. The day got progressively nicer, and by noon we had bright sunshine, 57 degrees, and light wind, conditions just perfect for soaring, which is exactly what many of the eagles we were watching began doing. Generally, overcast, lousy-weather days, especially days when a storm (low barometric pressure) is approaching, are the best trapping days. So, needless to say, by about 1330 hours we were not too optimistic about our chances. Shortly after this, however, an immature bald eagle landed near our bait, walked slowly in, displaced all the corvids, jumped up on top of the deer and began eating. We were pleased, because anytime one eagle is feeding, it usually attracts others; this time was no exception. A
Perfect Deployment Now the
work began. It took us over an hour to untangle, band and release the
seven immature eagles, who, unfortunately for them were feeding at the
same time as our target adult, before we turned our attention to the
adult for his full treatment. In addition to his leg bands, P04 as he
is now known received a satellite radio transmitter (Ptt), was measured,
weighed and bled before being photographed and released. A very successful
day as it turned out. Eagleye
Today’s Map and Data
Reading Strategy: Stop and Share 
Go into the
field with Eagleye and Kathy. Print out today’s Field Report. Then
work with a partner to read and reflect on article. Together read and
collect the facts from the text. After reading a paragraph or section
of text, students “Stop and Share.” Find out more about this reading strategy here: Fly-Over Dangers Last week we learned that many Bald Eagles congregate each year on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay near Aberdeen Proving Grounds. This is a U.S. government site where munitions are tested. Or, in other words, there are a lot of loud explosions in the area where our Bald eagle V98 is now residing. What kind of effect do these kinds of intrusions have for roosting eagles? Read on to find out more: Eagleye Nye stays very busy keeping track of the eagles and soon will be gearing up for nest-visits that start in about a month. One summer we went along with Nye to film him climbing up to a nest, but we captured more on the video footage than we expected! Take a look at the film, but watch carefully. After you watch, answer these:
Intensive Checklist: Monitoring at the Nesting Sites As we know, a large part of Pete Nye's job involves visits to all the active Bald eagle nests in NY each summer. These visits are extremely important for eagle research. Here is a checklist of the things reported from each nest:
Male and Female Eagles: A Weighty Number Line In many bird species, it's easy to tell males from females because the plumage is different. Not so with eagles! Last week we showed you how scientists use the eagle beak and toe claw measurements to determine the gender of the birds and let you calculate some examples. Eagleye often refers to the eagles as females when he sees a large bird because he knows that females are most often larger than males. Female
Eagle Weights Male Eagle
Weights Try
This
(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.) Eagle Glossary Build your vocabulary with terms used in our reports as we study eagles this season. Find the following terms from this weeks report and define them in your eagle journals or portfolios: addled eggs, GPS location, corvid.
How to Respond to Today's Challenge Questions:
1. Address
an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-eagle@learner.org Copyright
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