Since their diet consists primarily of fish, bald eagles must migrate to open water when lakes & rivers freeze over each winter. During the winter, eagles congregate where adequate food can be found and move back north in advance of the spring thaw. Canada plays an important role in protecting the U.S. national symbol: Almost half of the eagles that winter in the lower 48 States return to Canada to breed. With New York biologist Peter Nye, we'll use satellite telemetry to track eagles that are expected to travel from their wintering grounds in New York back to their nests somewhere in Canada.
Where do you think the eagles' nests will be? How will weather effect their migration? Additional information about this research is contained in Peter Nye's biography in the accompanying "Ask the Expert" message.
========================================================= To: Journey North From: Peter Nye New York Department of Environmental Conservation Endangered Species Unit Date: February 22, 1995 RE: First Bald Eagle Goes Online!
"Great news! I was in the field trapping yesterday (2/21) and we scored a big, female, beautiful, adult, bald eagle. She weighed 13.7 pounds, pretty substantial. We caught her on one of New York's traditional wintering grounds. She is now known as #28, and is sporting this winter's first satellite radio unit (PTT).
This was a totally unbanded bird so we hope and assume that she is a winter visitor who will travel back north come March, but be aware that it is possible that it may not go far and could even be a local breeder we were unaware of--a chance we always take!
I'd been waiting for the weather to get colder so we could draw the eagle to our bait. We put out a deer carcass to attract the eagles. However, due to the warm weather the water wasn't frozen so there was plenty for them to eat. If we're lucky we'll have 3 eagles on satellite this spring. All for now. I'll keep you posted."
Regards,
EAGLEYE NYE
Date Latitude Longitude
2/21/95 41.583 N 74.748 W
CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
1) Using the satellite data above and a good map of New York see if you can answer this question: What's the name of the body of water where our eagle is probably fishing this winter?
2) Some important news about U.S. bald eagles was announced on July 4,1994. What was the news?
Send your answers to us at: jnorth@informns.k12.mn.us
Copyright 1995, Journey North. All Rights Reserved.