[TN-Bird] Tennessee Golden Eagle tracking project udpate

From: Scott Somershoe <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxx>
To: TN-Birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Birds, Bristol" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:33:19 +0000
Hi all,
Here is a fairly lengthy update on the efforts to trap and track wintering 
Golden Eagles in Tennessee.  We were successful in trapping 3 wintering Golden 
Eagles!  I had 4 transmitters ready to go, but 3 birds actually exceeded my 
expectations of how many we would actually catch given this was our first 
attempt!  All birds have been affixed with solar powered transmitters that send 
data to cell towers.

Through this project we will begin to better understand what our wintering 
Golden Eagles are doing on the wintering grounds, how much they move around, 
where they go for the summer/breeding season, but also the specific routes they 
choose when heading north or south on migration and how potential energy 
development could impact eastern Golden Eagles.   Several dozen other wintering 
Golden Eagles have been tracked from sites in Virginia and further north, 
however the Golden's in the "deep south" (and there are many more than we 
thought via birds caught on film) will add significantly to the understanding 
of their population numbers, migration routes and how potential energy 
development could impact this population.  From using camera traps and now some 
tracking of individuals will potentially yield considerable information to our 
knowledge about wintering Golden Eagles in Tennessee and better help us protect 
this incredible species!  This is one bird that we really know very little 
about on the wintering grounds, esp. how many we really have!

To the project:
We had about 12 sites running where we were hoping to attract Golden Eagles in 
Tennessee.  We had at least 3 different individuals that lingered for over 3 
weeks in the Cumberland Mountains, but most of them left at an inopportune 
time.  However we got really lucky and were able to trap one of those birds at 
Hatfield Knob on 5 Feb 13 (see previously TN-Birds posts, and info below).  A 
second Golden Eagle was seen that day as well!

Since we didn't have other continuing birds on other sites in Tennessee that 
would have a high chance of trapping success (and I had 3 more transmitters), I 
contacted my colleagues in AL and NC to see about their sites that were near 
the state line.  A lot of cooperation with folks in AL and NC over a few days 
netted 2 more birds!  The other 2 birds may not have been trapped in Tennessee, 
but both were very close to the state line, we are certainly sharing these 
birds, and well, birds don't care about borders and neither do I.  Capturing 
and tracking wintering birds from 3 different regions of the state (which in 
this case was the southeast) was a priority and I can't believe we pulled it 
off!  This was very much a success!  I may still have one transmitter, but 3 of 
4 being deployed is a victory for a first time effort to trap birds in 
Tennessee!

Info on the birds:
The first Golden Eagle was caught 5 Feb 2013 on N Cumberland WMA, Campbell Co.  
This bird is a 3 year old male.  He has since wandered south and west slowly 
but surely.  For a couple days he was northwest of Frozen Head State Park in a 
remote area where there is no cell coverage (kept me a little nervous!).  He 
later spent a couple days this week ON Frozen Head State Park and was southwest 
of Crossville this morning on private lands.  The other day the bird crossed 
I-40 barely a mile west of the big ceramics plant on the west side of 
Crossville by Exit 317!  From the data we have gotten, the bird is not moving 
around much and is likely spending several hours at a time in one location and 
in the forest.

On 9 Feb 2013, a 5th year male Golden Eagle was trapped at a site in Alabama 
just across the state line from Franklin Co.  The bird was caught only a few 
miles from the state line.  From plumage details, this bird is likely one of 
the birds we had on a site in Franklin Co a couple weeks earlier.  Considering 
the close proximity of sites in TN and AL, we were almost certainly sharing 
this bird.   This bird is in a remote area with no cell coverage and there has 
been no data received yet (getting nervous on this one!).  We had at least 3 
different Golden Eagles on sites in Franklin Co in the last 3 weeks.

On 11 Feb 13, a likely 10 yr old male Golden Eagle was trapped only 400 yards 
into North Carolina on Unaka Mountain.  The bird was actually banded in 
Tennessee and upon release it flew into Tennessee!  This bird is also in a 
remote area without cell coverage, so we have received no data (I'm not too 
nervous, yet).

In time, these birds will fly within range of cell towers and transmit a lot of 
data all at once, which will be very exciting!  They may also spend the summer 
in remote areas, so I will hopefully not worry too much about them for 
potentially a couple months at a time (yeah, I'll worry)!

I haven't had time to develop the Golden Eagle project page on the Tennessee's 
Watchable Wildlife web site yet.  It'll likely be a couple weeks or longer 
until I have time and energy to get content online.  I didn't want to create 
anything online until we had a bird in hand!  Until I get the web page up and 
running, I'll continue to post periodic updates here.

If you are interested in more info, please contact me off list.

Cheers,
Scott Somershoe

State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
615-781-6653 (office)
615-781-6654 (fax)
[TN-Bird] Tennessee Golden Eagle tracking project udpate

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