Journey North Bald Eagles

Bald Eagle

Look carefully at this picture.

1. What is happening?
Describe all that you see.

This young eagle was removed from the nest and is being fitted with a backpack satellite transmitter. This doesn't hurt the bird. You can see it takes 2 people to do this. These scientists are trying to be gentle, but work quickly so the bird doesn't get too scared.
One man is wearing gloves for his protection from the eagle's strong talons and sharp beak.
Eagleye Nye is carefully sewing the backpack straps together. The stitching will breakdown after a couple years and the backpack transmitter will fall off when the batteries wear out.

2. What is this?

The scientists put a little hood on the bird's head so it won't be able to see. This helps to quiet down the bird so the backpack can be stitched on.

4. What is this?

This is the little solar transmitter. You can also see the antennae that helps send the signal to satellites orbiting above. It is worn like a backpack. The two top straps come over the shoulders, and the bottom two straps go around the abdomen.

6. Which eagle is this?

Looking closely we can read the leg band on this eagle. It is Y89. This bird and many others in NY state were banded while it was still very young and in the nest. Scientists keep track of the eagles using this identification system.