 |
|
||||
|
Bald Eagle Migration Update: March 5, 2003
Today's Report Includes:
Gone Fishing (for Bald Eagles!)
"Out of the office," a sign should read on my desk today. This week’s report is brief because I am not in the office to write it!
Peter Nye is hoping to catch one more bald eagle for satellite tracking this spring, and he invited me to come along. If you’re reading this on Wednesday, I'm out in the field with him today. We'll have left Albany, New York, at 2 o'clock this morning in order to get the trapping gear in place before the eagles open their bright yellow eyes.
 |
| Juvenile eagle at deer carcass. Nye wants to capture an adult. |
Peter said I should pack some snacks and be ready to spend the day in the truck. We may wait the whole day for the right eagle to take the bait. "Now remember, it's always possible we won't catch get a thing," he warned, "but this is probably the last chance we'll have for trapping this season." When the weather gets warmer it won't be as easy to draw eagles to bait because they'll have other sources of food. But Peter Nye says March can be good trapping because eagles are often moving through the state at this time.
It's exciting to have the chance to spend a day in the field with an expert. I have so many questions to ask! I'm eager to take a close look at the satellite transmitters and feel how heavy they are. I'm curious about the capturing process. I wonder how the rocket net works, and how far back we'll have to be to fire it. I can't picture how the satellite backpack is attached to the eagle, and I hope Pete will show me. Even if we don’t catch a thing, it will be fun to see how much I can learn about eagles in a single day.
I've been writing about Peter Nye’s research for eight years. And although we've exchanged hundreds of e-mail messages over the years, we've never met! So perhaps most of all, I'm looking forward to thanking him personally for the generosity he's shown Journey North.
Wish us luck! Send good vibes! I promise a report packed with pictures of Peter Nye and the trapping process next week. And HOPEFULLY, if we're really lucky, photos of a new eagle sporting a satellite backpack, ready for its trip north to nest.
Elizabeth Howard
Journey North
This Week's Migration Map and Data
Link to Latest Data:
|
|
"Take a look at eagle E63," said Peter Nye when he sent this week’s data. "It's interesting to note that we captured him in SE NY on 1 March 2001, on his way north from his wintering site in northern Chesapeake Bay. Notice from the latest data that it is now March 1st and he is still down there! Look back at his spring 2002 date of departure from the Chesapeake. When did he leave and move through southern NY in spring 2002? What do you think he'll do this year? Stay longer? Leave later? Why?"
The Next Bald Eagle Migration Update Will Be Posted on March 12, 2003
Copyright 2003 Journey North. All
Rights Reserved.
Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form
