Bald Eagle Migration Update: May 3, 2006

Today's Report Includes:

• This Week's Bald Eagle Tracking Map and Data
• Field Notes from Eagleye Nye
• Like a Battery, U25 Keeps on Going: Challenge Question #12
• Tracking the Spring 2006 Bald Eagle Migration

• Maps for Individual Eagles
  (click event box for scroll down menu)
• This Week's Migration Data
  (Reported April 26 - May 3, 2006):

This past week, again, sees some interesting movements by our youngsters, but pretty much status quo for our adult birds.
Adults U21, U27, and V98 appear to be "settled in", presumably at their nests. Adult male P04 moved again, a bit to the northeast and is now on the Labrador border, where oh so many of our eagles seem to go!

U25, 4-year old female, continues to move around Labrador, "searching?” It would appear she is not yet breeding based on her movements and our other tagged-eagles behavior at this point. He is not to far from V98.

P91, youngster in 2005 moved west just a little, now between Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. P89 and P90 remain about where they were.

Back to the Natal Area for Youngsters
The interesting news is P88, who, after almost a year away, is now back at her nest lake in Albany County, NY! It will be interesting to see how long she stays there, and if she is "tolerated" by her parents, who are currently incubating their future 2006 young! Adults typically chase such youngsters out of the immediate nest territory, as they can pose a threat to the young at the nest, becoming defensive of "their" home-site.

Our other 2004 youngster, Y96, like P88, has also returned to her natal area along the Delaware River, re-familiarizing herself with "home."

Y94 moved north just a bit, but still residing on the Susquehanna River in PA.

Studying Young Eagles--A New Frontier in Research
So, it's been interesting! I hope you have enjoyed tracking this year’s eagles. The fun, and information, will go on, as we continue to track these birds for many years, until their radios fail. We hope to get several seasons/years worth of data on their movements. It is always interesting to see how they compare from year to year. We are particularly excited about these young eagles, and hope we can follow them until they reach sexual maturity and set up nesting territories of there own, something biologists currently know little about.

Eagleye is out in the field trying to visit all the nest trees in NY this month.

I begin my field work early next Monday morning, so will not have much to report from here on out, since I'll be scrambling all around New York State trying to get to all our nest trees over the next two months. But, I will try to send latest location data as I can.

Take care, and do well as school wraps up; have a great summer and hope to see you all next year!

Eagleye
New York State Dept. Environmental Conservation
Delmar, NY

• 04/24/06 located at (53.2N, 64.68W)
• 04/28/06 located at (54.0N, 59.49W)

Tracking the Spring Migration

Study eagle maps and locations each week. Then use this new chart for tracking. You could keep this as a permanent record for your Spring 2006 archives.

• Field Notes: Tracking Chart for Spring 2006 Eagle Migraion