Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

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Bald Eagle Migration Update: April 3, 2001

Today's Report Includes:

Field Notes from Peter Nye

Golden Eagle Free to Fly!

Bill Streeter holding Eagle #004 while Peter Nye adjusts her band.

Bill Streeter bent low and then, with a mighty spring upwards, he thrust Golden Eagle #004 into the air. Three months in captivity didn't seem to phase this eagle, as she cut through the Adirondack air with strong wing-beats to a nearby tree, free again at last! Thus ended the nearly fatal story of immature Golden Eagle #004. But as the nearly tragic tale is hopefully ended, we get to share in her new saga, as the first Golden Eagle from New York to ever be tracked by satellite (there have only been a handful anywhere).

It was just two days before Christmas last year, when #004 was picked up along a roadside in Hamilton County, NY, alive, but unable to fly. Given just a couple more days in the wild, she would have been a dead bird. The diagnosis of lead-poisoning came quickly; the cure did not! For five weeks veterinarian Marie Rush and staff of the Health Center painstakingly rid #004 of her lead, and patiently provided physical therapy to prevent her muscles and joints from seizing up. By early February, #004 was well enough to leave the intensive care for pre-release conditioning under the expert eyes and guidance of Bill and Stephanie Streeter. Again, lucky break for #004! After six weeks of flight training, #004's muscles were again in top shape and she was declared "ready to go."

As you can tell from this story, MANY, MANY people gave tremendously of their time, talents and resources to get #004 back into the air; it has indeed been a "team" effort. Eagle #004 is one lucky eagle! After you read the detailed report of Golden Eagle's release, it's your turn to ask us!

Challenge Question #15:
"What questions do you have about Golden Eagles and/or lead poisoning? Send us your questions and we'll work to get the answers!"

(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)

Latest Bald Eagle Migration News


Migration Map
as of April 3, 2001

All the Bald Eagles are now underway, except for Eagle E50--even though it's April! When do you suppose he'll finally take off?

Note the big move for Eagle E47 between March 30 and April 1st!

Eagle E47
March 30: 46.60 N, -76.29 W
April 1: 48.84 N, 82.94 W

Challenge Question #16:
"How far did E47 fly between March 30 and April 1st? (For assistance, try the Online Distance Calculator.)"

(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)

Also interesting: Notice that Eagle E63 retreated south between 27 March and 29 March --and then further south by March 31st! Interested students should investigate the weather. Find Eagle E63's location on the migration map, then use the weather map archives to see if weather conditions changed during that time:

Discussion of Challenge Question #10
Peter Nye's Nest Guesses
Where do you think these birds are headed? Well, below you'll find my "guesses," and believe me, they are just that! At this time of year, we really don't have much to go on. At the time of writing, all of these birds were still in NY, even though they had moved a short distance from there capture area. Here are some of my considerations:
  • Ordinarily, if birds leave later (as in very late March or even early April), I would guess they are moving farther north (especially for females).
  • Also this winter, with these birds, we have seen only short movements then staying put for a while again, perhaps caused by the frequent late snow storms we have had of late. The point being that they have not yet demonstrated a "trail" or direction (at least not one evident to me yet!).
  • About all I have to go on, is knowledge of where (general locations) previous birds from previous areas have migrated to.

Perhaps we should all start out with a much more general guess, such as what province do we think they will end up in! My guess on that score is Quebec, and possibly western Labrador. At this point, it really doesn't appear that any of these birds are going to go up the Atlantic coast, as in up to the Maritime Provinces or Maine, or to the far northwest as K70 and K72 did last year, and are expected to do again this year.

So, following on that assumption, I simply looked at places I believe are suitable eagle breeding habitat in the general vicinity as described above, and picked out their latitudes and longitudes. These don't necessarily go with these specific birds, but could be used by any one of them. How's that for hedging my bet? Anyhow, if any of you sharp students out there correctly predict this, you'll have to let me know how you did it! More time/locations under our belts will help in these predictions!

My guesses are shown as stars on today's migration map, matching the colors of each eagle's data points:

E47 = 54.38N 66.41W
E49 = 51.54N 69.10W
E50 = 50.72N 73.52W
E63 = 48.45N 74.70W

--Eagleye--

Peter E. Nye
NYS Dept. Environmental Conservation

What Does Bortolotti's Formula Say?
Discussion of Challenge Question #11
Congratulations to students at New Jersey's Iselin Middle School for putting their heads together and doing these calculations. Using Bortolotti's formula they came up with the same answers as Peter Nye did, suggesting the look-alike eagles are in fact the following gender:

Eagle K58 is a female (Result= 2.293--POSITIVE, so female)
Eagle K72 is a female (Result= .8968--POSITIVE, so female)
Eagle E47 is a female (Result= 0.374--POSITIVE, so female)
Eagle E49 is a female (Result= 0.740--POSITIVE, so female)
Eagle E63 is a male (Result= -1.3908--NEGATIVE, so male)
Eagle E50 is a male (Result= -0.9852--NEGATIVE, so male)

See Bortolotti's Formula: How Can You Tell Male and Female Eagles Apart?

Coming Next Week: How Birds Fly
Flight captures the human imagination. For millennia, people have watched birds in the sky and wished we could fly, too. Next week, we'll provide an in-depth look at flight. In the meantime, think about this: In order to minimize the effects of gravity, birds are adapted to be as light as possible.

Challenge Question #17:
"How many physical adaptations can you list that help make birds light? (Think about birds' bodies from head to tail, inside and out.)"

How to Respond to Today's Challenge Questions:

IMPORTANT: Answer only ONE question in each e-mail message.

1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-eagle@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question #15 (#16 or #17).
3. In the body of EACH message, answer ONE of the questions above.

The Next Bald Eagle Migration Update Will Be Posted on April 10, 2001

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