[TN-Bird] Golden Eagle fledgling, 2 July 2012, Smith Co.
- From: "Bob Hatcher" <hatcher2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxx>, "'TN-Birds'" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:24:51 -0500
The following are a few other interesting tidbits pertaining to the Golden
Eagle fledging that was found emaciated on July 2 north of Hwy 85 on Little
Salt Lick Road, about two miles NW of Salt Lick Creek Recreation Area of
Cordell Hull Lake. More specifically:
. That site, very near the Smith-Jackson County line, is only 3-4
miles from where a total of six Golden Eagles were fledged from the Flynn's
Lick Creek nest (Coordinates 36.38833 x 85.7775) on Cordell Hull Lake during
1993-2001.
. The six Golden Eagles fledged from the Cordell Hull Lake nest
were: 1993 - 2, 1994 - 1, 1996 - 1, 1999 - 1, 2000 - 1, and 2001 - 1.
. A nearby falconer (I don't recall his name) advised during skipped
nesting years that the adult golden eagles were observed in the general
vicinity of the Flynn's Lick nest site on Cordell Hull Lake, but no second
GOEA nest was ever reported in Tennessee during that period.
. During their first year of nesting on Cordell Hull Lake, one of
the adult Golden Eagles had a wing tag with colors assigned to the Georgia
DNR, which had hacked Golden Eagles on Pigeon Mountain, south of
Chattanooga, TN.
. The closest Tennessee Golden Eagle hack site was 95-100 miles to
the SE on Chickamauga Lake, where 37 young Golden Eagles were released from
1995 through 2000. Ten more were released from AEF's Douglas Lake hack site
during 2001-2006.
. No nests have been documented anywhere from the above 47 Golden
Eagle hack releases in Tennessee, which indicates they are not generally
adapted to nesting in the eastern U.S.
However, as Wallace Coffey indicates concerning the latest Golden Eagle
fledgling report, there is still much we can learn about Golden Eagles in
this region of the country, including telemetry studies of their migration
patterns.
Bob Hatcher
Retired TWRA Nongame & Endangered Wildlife Coordinator (1978-2001), and
Eagle Consultant, American Eagle Foundation
Brentwood, TN 37027
From: tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Scott Somershoe
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 7:53 PM
To: TN-Birds
Subject: [TN-Bird] Golden Eagle fledgling, 2 July 2012, Smith Co.
On 2 July 2012, Polly Rooker picked up an emaciated and dehydrated Golden
Eagle juvenile from a TWRA wildlife officer in Smith Co. The bird was found
north of Hwy 85 on Little Salt Lick Rd, only a couple miles NW from Salt
Lick Creek Rec Area on Cordell Hull Lake. The bird was transported to
Walden's Puddle in Joelton and is now doing well.
To put this exceedingly rare oddity in perspective, here's a few interesting
tidbits about Golden's in Tennessee (some of which is old news to some
TN-Bird readers). A pair of Golden Eagles was known to nest near Cordell
Hull Lake in Jackson county in 1993, 94, 96, 2000, and 2001. This nesting
activity was thought to have been a result of the hacking of Golden's that
occurred over the years, although hacking was not done near Cordell Hull.
In Sept 2007, I received video and still photos of 2 adult Golden Eagles
with a juvenile on the Caney Fork River. The location of the 2007 birds is
about 10 air miles from where the above bird was just found. I'm guessing
that there is at least one pair still nesting in this area around Cordell
Hull Lake, which again may or may not be a lingering result of the hacking
that was done. The nearest extant breeding populations of Golden Eagles are
in New York state (maybe in Pennsylvania) and in Colorado and west Texas,
although there are some recent summer records of adults with immature birds
in western North Carolina (that I just found in eBird).
At the link below, I have the latest edition of Bald Facts about Bald
Eagles. Within this 4 page PDF, there is some information about the history
of the Golden Eagle hacking.
http://tnwatchablewildlife.org/TWRApublications.cfm
Golden Eagle species account on the Watchable Wildlife web site.
http://tnwatchablewildlife.org/details.cfm?displayhabitat=
<http://tnwatchablewildlife.org/details.cfm?displayhabitat=&sort=aounumber&t
ypename=TENNESSEE'S&uid=09042417581831654&commonname=Golden%20Eagle>
&sort=aounumber&typename=TENNESSEE'S&uid=09042417581831654&commonname=Golden
%20Eagle
Cheers,
Scott Somershoe
State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
615-781-6653 (office)
615-781-6654 (fax)
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