[TN-Bird] exceedingly rare oddity-- TWRA's enormous oppo...
- From: Viclcsw@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2012 21:04:02 -0400 (EDT)
Dear all,
I would like to make a comment about the value of scientific research
without getting into the discussion of historical evidence of golden eagle
nesting in TN.
What we currently know is that at least one pair of golden eagles has been
nesting in the Cordell Hull area for the past 20 years. We know that one
of the original pair was from the Georgia DNR hacking project because it
carried an identifying tag. Beyond that, we know nothing about this pair,
whether the original two adult golden eagles are still nesting and breeding
or whether mates have been lost and replaced by other adults over these
years.
The tree holding the original known golden eagle nest fell in 2001. Since
that time no other nest has been located. Given Bob Hatcher's report of
the last recorded fledging from this nest as 2001, we can assume that the
appearance of the rescued fledgling is the first confirmed evidence of golden
eagle breeding since the loss of the original nest site. This is
significant from the stand point of longevity, breeding success and site
fidelity.
After twenty years, we have a confirmed record of golden eagles breeding
in the wild in Tennessee. Again, there is no way to confirm whether the
two breeding adults that produced the recently rescued fledgling are the
original breeding pair.
It is well known from historical data that golden eagles may build up to 14
alternate nests. The fact that no golden eagle nests have been
discovered is obviously not an indication that there is no golden eagle
breeding in
our state. It is fairly easy to spot a golden eagle nest in the west where
trees are sparse and land is open. But have you ever tried to spot a nest
on a densely wooded mountain? It is very difficult if not impossible.
Having said that, at what point do we stop discussing technicalities and
look at the opportunity for research and learning? This is a small project.
Put a transmitter on this young bird when his/her health is restored and
record what we can learn from that effort. There is no doubt that the
money can be raised. Abundance of a species has never been a viable reason to
exclude a species from study. The ruby-throated hummingbird is abundant in
the east, but on-going research reveals new and enlightening information
about this species every year.
Basically we have a wonderful opportunity. Let's partner together and
take advantage of it!
Vickie
Vickie Henderson
Knox County,
Knoxville, TN
_http://vickiehenderson.blogspot.com/_
(http://vickiehenderson.blogspot.com/)
_http://vickiehendersonsketchbook.blogspot.com/_
(http://vickiehendersonsketchbook.blogspot.com/)
_http://vickiehenderson.com/_ (http://vickiehenderson.com/)
In a message dated 7/16/2012 6:52:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
csloan1973@xxxxxxxxx writes:
Wallace-
We seem to be going in circles here, so let me be clearer. I have no
agenda or bias here, other than being in favor of smart use of limited funds
for non-game conservation. I'm asserting these facts:
1. There is no definitive evidence that Golden Eagles have ever naturally
nested in Tennessee in the modern era.
2. What anecdotal evidence there is suggests that, at best, nesting
Golden Eagles were extralimital and rare.
3. The nearest natural breeding populations are 700-1000 miles away.
If you disagree with any of those, please cite your sources. If not, then
I don't know what you expect these experts to tell us; those facts are all
I need to know to draw the conclusion that TWRA should not expend
resources on nesting Golden Eagles in Tennessee.
Chris Sloan
Nashville, TN
_http://www.chrissloanphotography.com_
(http://www.chrissloanphotography.com/)
On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 5:29 PM, Wallace Coffey <_jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx) > wrote:
Now that it is abundantly clear that relying on memory and humble opinion
has its limitations,
it is probably best to get back to the main assertions:
-- TWRA needs to quickly move forward with enlightened and progressive
options. We should stand for the very best progressive, professional and
scientific consultation in eastern North America in regards to what the best
options are for the captive fledgling Golden Eagle. That and nothing less.
-- TWRA should not make bad decision or no decisions at all simply
because there will probably always be desperately-need non-game funding. If
the scientific community's thoughtful consensus is to do nothing, then that
would be better founded than management with little more than memories and
humble opinions.
What do we have to fear in hearing from experience and expertise ?
Would it be more helpful for us to have reliable facts when a discussion
espouses the ASSUMPTION of past “tragic waste of TWRA’s Nongame funds?”
What if it turns out that is not the case and TWRA did not waste Nongame
funds ? What if it turns out TWRA does not waste valuable time ?
Are there flags of caution here which should remind us that bias,
misinformation and agendas
threaten reasonable ideas of exploration and options to pursue
progressive, professional and scientific consultation ?
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
----- Original Message -----
From: _Chris Sloan_ (mailto:csloan1973@xxxxxxxxx)
To: _Bob Hatcher_ (mailto:hatcher2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Cc: _TN-Bird Listserv_ (mailto:tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) ; _Cecere, Al_
(mailto:SaveTheEagle@xxxxxxx) ; _Danielle Steckley_
(mailto:aefeagles2@xxxxxxxxxxx) ; _Beth Parker_ (mailto:parkerbj@xxxxxxxxx) ;
_Nancy Zagaya_
(mailto:nzagaya@xxxxxxx) ; _Sterling Daniels_ (mailto:sterling.daniels@xxxxxx)
;
_Polly Rooker_ (mailto:prooker@xxxxxxxxxx) ; _Chris Simpson_
(mailto:Chris.Simpson@xxxxxx) ; _Scott Somershoe_
(mailto:scott.somershoe@xxxxxx)
Sent: July 16, 2012 02:59
Subject: [TN-Bird] Re: exceedingly rare oddity-- TWRA's enormous
opportunity
My apologies for mistakenly asserting that TWRA spent funds on the Golden
Eagle hacking project. I actually knew that and wasn't careful in my
response. That said, as Bob notes below, there is no definitive evidence that
Golden Eagles ever historically nested in the state, and so in my opinion
there never should have been a hacking program to start with.
To Wallace's comment about Golden Eagles nesting for the last 20 years, I
believe those nests were all in the region where hacking occurred and seem
likely to be the results of it. Even if not, based on the limited
anecdotal historical evidence, this is a marginally viable, extralimital
breeding
population at best. I stand by my assertion that TWRA should not expend any
resources on the issue of nesting Golden Eagles in Tennessee. If TWRA had
unlimited resources, then I'd be all for exploring the issue further, but
unfortunately, their resources are very limited, and in my opinion any
effort focused on breeding Golden Eagles is a distraction from much more
important issues. Wallace misquotes me when he says I'm asking TWRA to "make
bad
decisions or no decisions at all." Making a decision not to act is still
making a decision, and in this case, in my opinion, the better one.
If Wallace feels otherwise, I'd ask him to please explain the logic for
making efforts that are, in effect, introducing a species into the state that
does not appear, based on available evidence, to have ever been
established as a breeder, at least in any significant numbers. I can list
numerous
examples of other species for which Tennessee is at the extreme end of their
breeding range, but for which I doubt anyone would advocate a special
breeding program if they suddenly declined within the state (e.g. Painted
Bunting, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Alder Flycatcher, to name a few). If we
give the evidence of natural Golden Eagle breeding (i.e. not associated
with hacking) its most favorable interpretation, then they are no different
from those species.
Resources are finite, so choices have to be made. This seems like an
obvious one to me.
Chris Sloan
Nashville, TN
_http://www.chrissloanphotography.com_
(http://www.chrissloanphotography.com/)
On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 1:30 PM, Bob Hatcher <_hatcher2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:hatcher2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) > wrote:
We need to set the record straight concerning the following ASSUMPTION of
past “tragic waste of TWRA’s Nongame funds” involved with hacking of
Golden Eagles in Tennessee. This is not the case; GOEA hacking, per se, has
never been funded by TWRA. As Paul Harvey used to say, “Here is the rest of
the story” – once again.
Due to lack of documentation of prior GOEA nesting in Tennessee (see
below), GOEA hacking in Tennessee was given the lowest of all priorities in
TWRA’
s Endangered Species Strategic Plan in 1990. The only way it would be
allowed to be done would be if: 1) funding would need to come from non-TWRA
sources; 2) no new hack tower would be constructed, and 3) TWRA would not
provide the hack site attendants. We thought that would be the end of that,
but then, a non-TWRA Golden Eagle reintroduction proponent raised the
money from a private donor to completely fund the project. A prior bald eagle
hack site volunteer, living next to our former Bald Eagle hack tower on
Chickamauga lake, volunteered to be a Golden Eagle hack site attendant there.
A total of 37 Golden Eagles were hacked and released there from 1995
through 2000. Increased numbers of GOEA’s showed up during the next few
winter
months on the adjacent Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge for viewing during the
Sandhill Crane Festivals, etc.
The same non-TWRA funding principle was carried out by the American Eagle
Foundation (AEF) with the hacking of 10 Golden Eagles on Douglas Lake from
2001 through 2006. AEF utilized facilities that Dollywood had
constructed for Bald Eagle restoration. AEF utilized the available hack tower
for
release of the young GOEA’s that its non-releasable captive adult had
produced. Since 2007, these adult GOEA’s have not been allowed to produce
young.
Scott Somershoe had asked an appropriate question in January, 2007, “Why
have GOEA’s been hacked in Tennessee?” The following is my reply, with
other pertinent GOEA background information.
I hope these records will be useful, particularly as we continue to study
and learn more about GOEA’s in Tennessee.
Bob Hatcher
Retired TWRA NG-ES Coordinator (1978-2001), and
AEF Eagle Consultant and Correspondent
Brentwood, TN
_EagleMail@xxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:EagleMail@xxxxxxxxxx) or
_hatcher2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:hatcher2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
January 08, 2007 5:52 PM
Subject: Golden Eagles in Tennessee
Scott Somershoe, State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Nashville, TN
_Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxxxxxxx)
Scott,
You ask a good question: "I have to ask, why are golden eagles being
'reintroduced' to TN when they did not occur here originally and thus we are
introducing a species." As Bruce Anderson reports, historical nesting in
Tennessee was a point of discussion before the hacking of Golden Eagles was
begun. The following points have been some of the pros and cons of those
discussions.
TOS co-founder Albert Ganier reported in TOS' The Migrant that he had
observed at least two Golden Eagle nests in Van Buren County during the
1930's. However, he personally did not see the nests until after the active
nesting seasons were complete, and observed no adults or young at the nests.
Ganier had climbed into several eagle nests before that, and felt he could
distinguish an eagle nest from other nests (it was not near a large body of
water). I did a quick search today without finding those original Ganier
references. However, I find a reference to one of the one of those nests near
Fall Creek Falls in Ganier's article about Peregrine Falcon nests in the
September, 1940 Migrant, page 54:
"The last mentioned point is of great interest in that it is a massive
sandstone cliff, more than 200 feet sheer and jutting out of the southeast
escarpment of the Caney Creek Canyon. Here was the Golden Eagle's eyrie some
years back, and here is the present eyrie of a pair of peregrine
falcons...."
There are records of significant numbers of Golden Eagles that
historically frequented the hills of Cannon and nearby Rutherford County.
During the
mid-1980's, TWRA's Rutherford County Wildlife Officer, Teddy Hollis, orally
advised that there were enough Golden Eagles to be seen in Rutherford
County, where he lived as a child in the early 1950's, that birders from
Nashville would travel there to see them. He reported that one of his
neighbors
trapped a "nesting Golden Eagle" and placed it in a cage at a country
grocery store, where large numbers of people came to see it. He stated that
the
Rutherford County Wildlife Officer at the time, Walter Taylor, made them
release the eagle. I asked Teddy Hollis if he would send me a letter
describing these childhood observations, but he never got around to it. I have
never
seen a written account of that nesting report. Walter Taylor was still a
TWRA officer in Rutherford County in the late 1960's, but he had died by the
time of this report from Teddy Hollis.
The larger numbers of Golden Eagles were apparently in Cannon and
Rutherford Counties primarily during the winter months, if not altogether.
They
still frequented a Cannon County site (near Shiloh Church) enough during the
1970's that it was checked each year for several years during the
mid-winter eagle count, after we began them in 1979 as part of the national
annual
mid-winter counts. After a few years of no sightings there in the 1980's, it
was not checked further during mid-winter counts.
In the 1980's, Mr. Frank Barker, then President of a bank in Dunlap, TN,
took me to a Sequatchie County site where he enthusiastically described
seeing a large "eagle on a bluff nest" during his teenage days of about the
1920's. The site was near Highway 127, just east of the Sequatchie Valley,
and overlooking the rugged headwaters of North Chickamauga Creek, which flows
to the east (to the Tennessee River) away from Sequatchie Valley. I of
course can't be sure it had been an actual eagle nest, but, if so, it was much
more Golden Eagle habitat that Bald Eagle habitat. Golden Eagles continued
in more recent years to be seen occasionally in the Sequatchie Valley
during the winter months. We had a volunteer who searched for them during
mid-winter eagle counts of the 1980's, but after not finding any for several
years, we finally stopped winter eagle surveys there.
The most comprehensive known study of _Golden Eagle nesting in the
Southern Appalachian states was reported during 1990_
(http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v102n04/p0693-p0698.pdf) in the Wilson
Bulletin. They found
several written reports of Golden Eagles nesting in the Southern Appalachians,
but none was judged adequate to actually document that Golden Eagles had
nested in those states by 1990, except for very limited nesting resulting
from hacking in Georgia in the 1980’s. The link to that Wilson Bulletin
report is _http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v102n04/p0693-p0698.pdf_
(http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v102n04/p0693-p0698.pdf) .
We considered the Wilson Bulletin report when preparing TWRA's Endangered
Species strategic plans of the 1990's. We therefore placed hacking of
Golden Eagles as the last of all priority actions within those 5-6 year ES
plans, giving higher priority to species known to have historically reproduced
in Tennessee. This priority was carried forward in the 2000 - 2006
Strategic Plan, which included the statement, "No hacking is proposed in
Tennessee unless it can be conducted at minimum cost (e.g. with donated
eaglets and
with primarily volunteer hack attendant(s) at an existing hack facility)."
I thought that, when we installed such tight restrictions in the ES
Strategic Plan, there would be very little likelihood of hacking Golden Eagles
in
Tennessee. But....
In 1995, the Montgomery Zoo had a captive-bred Golden Eaglet that needed
hacking for release into the wild. The USFWS asked if TWRA could accept it
for hacking and release. We accepted it under the above Strategic Plan
guidelines. We had considerable interest in Golden Eagle hacking at key
levels outside and within TWRA. A strong non-TWRA GOEA proponent contacted an
outside donor, who agreed to pay for all significant expenses. A volunteer,
who had previously been our Bald Eagle hack site attendant, became TWRA's
Golden Eagle hack site attendant in the old Bald Eagle hack tower on
Chickamauga Lake (at junction of Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers). AEF had a
pair of
Golden Eagles, which was allowed to produce young, and it later expanded
there also. All criteria of our stringent (we thought) Strategic Plan had
been met, so we accepted golden eagles for hacking under those terms.
All 47 Golden Eagles that have been hacked in Tennessee since 1995 have
followed the above low-priority guidelines cited for TWRA's Strategic Plans.
Based on the above reports, I cannot positively state whether Golden
Eagles historically nested in Tennessee. However, like the Wilson Bulletin
author, I have yet to find good documentation of it. Based on this lack of
evidence, and the lack of current known nesting anywhere in the Eastern United
States after releases in NC and GA, and our 47 releases in Tennessee since
1995, it is my conclusion that we have adequately tested their current
nesting adaptability in the Southeast.
Thanks again, and I hope this background information will be helpful.
Bob Hatcher
Eagle Consultant to American Eagle Foundation, and
Retired TWRA NG-ES Coordinator (1978 - 2001)
*********************
From: _tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
[mailto:_tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) ] On Behalf Of Chris Sloan
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 10:52 AM
To: TN-Bird Listserv
Subject: [TN-Bird] Re: exceedingly rare oddity-- TWRA's enormous
opportunity
I'll add one comment to this. While this is certainly interesting news, I
would hate to see TWRA (again) waste valuable time and money on the issue
of breeding Golden Eagles. The nearest breeding population is 700+ miles
away, and there is scant evidence (nothing more than vague anecdotes) that
this species was ever a native breeding species in Tennessee in the modern
era, notwithstanding TWRA's prior (and very misguided in my opinion)
efforts to "reintroduce" (actually "introduce") the species to the state. In
my
opinion, given the facts we have available, this fledgling is highly likely
to be a byproduct of those efforts. Certainly the bird should be cared
for and hopefully released, but beyond that, expediture of any of our
desperately limited non-game dollars on this bird is, in my opinion, a tragic
waste, when we have so many much more important issues that are already
starved
for funding.
The wintering Golden Eagles are a bit of a different story, and in my
opinion that side of the equation definitely merits further study and
conservation effort.
Chris Sloan
Nashville, TN
_http://www.chrissloanphotography.com_
(http://www.chrissloanphotography.com/)
****************
On Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 8:30 PM, Wallace Coffey <_jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx) > wrote:
Here we stand at the doorstep to ornithological history !
Putting an exceedingly rare oddity of getting our hands on a fledgling
Golden Eagle in perspective, in Tennessee, is astounding.
It seems like when Scott Somershoe, Polly Rooker and an unnamed wildlife
officer from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency shared what they have
been very busy with, there should have been hundreds of us with Skype
technology standing to give them a thunderous ovation.
But maybe that is premature. Maybe they have not yet come to the best
part of their story and we are waiting breathlessly to hear the grand plan
and news.
We hope we'll all see a satisfying sample of a ton of well-crafted
digital photos of the bird, it being delivered, identified, diagnosed, treated
and released. The results from the images being flashed electronically to
the best Golden Eagle minds available in at least eastern North America. To
learn how the experts affirmed and confirmed anything and everything known
about this juvenile and fledgling aging of this Golden Eagle. The US
Fish & Wildlife has said a fledgling is a juvenile that has taken the first
flight from the nest, but is not yet independent.
At least we will be excited to know how many weeks of age this fledgling
is and what sex the bird is. The protocols and standards are well known.
Sex is important because males and females have different tendencies to
wander.
We are going to be amazed at how much TWRA has done during the past two
weeks the bird has been in captivity and while Somershoe has been up to his
elbows in diapers with his own fledgling which he has been helping care for
at home.
It will be a thrill to see the names of all the advisors who have been
pulled into a quick response team to help guide TWRA thru these and the
pending, crucial, research opportunities that may not come our way again for
decades, if ever.
This fledgling Golden Eagle, found near Cordell Hull Lake, in upper
Middle Tennessee, is going to be a data bonanza.
Todd Katzner, Bob Hatcher, Jeff Cooper, Trish Miller, Al Cecere and Dave
Buhler are the kinds of names we'll be hearing about. Cecere and guys
like Buhler probably all have shared excellent input about how to go quickly
high on the mountain with this opportunity. Hatcher was a TWRA non-game and
eagle guy years ago when that was a good thing.
What they may already have in the works is a checklist of to-dos which
we'll see unfolding before our eyes within weeks if not months:
-- first is all the simple documentation mentioned above but also probably
the DNA samples which may tell us things our minds might never have
imagined. That probably goes without saying.
-- not only will this bird be a public spectacle and public relations coup
for TWRA but it will carry another first. The first Golden Eagle
fledgling from this southern region to every go aloft carrying one of the sexy
and
data-dumping, non-invasive, monitoring scheme of a novel high-frequency
GPS-GSM telemetry systems for tracking Golden Eagles among other migratory
birds. It uses solar -powered transmitters and cellphone transmissions to
relay satellite track data every few minutes or even every few seconds as
needed. It was designed by Katzner's company, Cellular Tracking Technologies
LLC. There are Golden Eagles transmitting data with these systems over
much of North America and even their breeding areas in Canada. But maybe
never ever from a fledgling Golden Eagle from our southern region.
-- for the first time we will know about any survival and what it does for
the next several years before it is old enough to breed. Does it, too,
breed in the region ? Is it part of a breeding population of Golden Eagles
we have known little about? Was it from a population that nest on high
elevation cliff faces or artificial structures or even in Tennessee trees ?
-- will the tracking of this bird lead us back to its parents or even near
the nest where it was fledged ? Will we learn if it can't survive or does
not survive this first winter ? Where will it winter ? Will we know the
transmission signal has not moved for days and go to find it downed again
? Can it once again be nursed back to health and make another try ? Or do
we simply retrieve the transmitter to be used another day by whomever
wants to own it and burry the carcass and end this adventure ?
-- as a fledgling, it may have been within a few short miles of where it
hatched or actually within sight of the nest when TWRA picked it up. Will
tracking lead us to where it roosts and what preference there is for a
Tennessee roost site ?
-- will we learn that TWRA has plans to bait the site with dead deer
carcasses this winter and affix cameras to monitor all around this area with
several such cameras and baitings ? Will we not only get wildlife cam photos
of the parents but also of this bird feasting at one of the carcasses ?
Will we find out there are a dozen Golden Eagles are more in that vicinity ?
The Bristol Bird Club's Clinch Mountain Golden Eagle group determined with
such a set up that we had 15 Golden Eagles wintering in just one small
part of Russell County, VA a year ago.
-- will we soon find out that TWRA is following the same approach that the
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has been busy at for the
past few winters by capturing those birds with a rocket net and placing
the Katzner-design satellite tracking units on them ?& Then we will
know if our nesting birds are a sedentary couple that does not migrate but
stays in the area? Will we even learn, as Virginia and others have than
wintering birds wander over a large area that may include hundreds of miles of
regular winter travel around the area ? Will this fledgling or other
tracked adults wander off into the Cumberland's for a few weeks or wherever ?
And, with tracking units, find where they are nesting and watch next year's
nest to see if more fledglings survive into the wilds of Tennessee ?
-- will we learn that this is the first step in allowing TWRA to help
guide the placement of wind turbines on our mountain tops and protect our
wintering Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles ?
-- it was not like Somershoe needed to leaves messages and try to
introduce himself to Katzner with babbling baby eagle talk. Scott is a
member of
Katzner's prestigious Eastern Golden Eagle Working Group which is based out
of the University of West Virginia. Scott has been working in
collaboration with biologists and wildlife managers from the US and Canada
dedicated
to developing a more complete understanding of Golden Eagle life history and
ecology throughout eastern North America.
-- Katzner has recently been to Canada to see for himself where and what
was going on with a Golden Eagle found injured in New York state and sent
back to the wild with one of his hi-tech telemetry units. It was an amazing
research effort and it was fascinating what he learned.
-- Jeff Cooper is also a member of that team. He is a Tennessee Tech
University graduate who is working with Golden Eagle telemetry for the
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. He probably has more than
two
dozen satellite-tracked Golden Eagles in Canada right now which he trapped
in western Virginia during winter and is studying them. In early 2010,
Cooper and his colleagues captured four Golden Eagles here and outfitted them
with GPS transmitters. All four headed north by mid-April and then spent the
breeding season on the Ungava Peninsula in northern Quebec. Cooper gets
back to Cookeville every now and then and was there not long ago -- just a
few miles down the road from where the fledgling was picked up by TWRA.
Cooper is one of Katzner's important Golden Eagle guys. They recently spent
time this early summer in the western part of the country with Cooper
climbing to many Golden Eagle nests. He can smell the air and tell you the
age
of a fledgling.
-- Katzner-type satellite tracking units probably will cost only about
$2,500 at the present. Surely, all of these excellent biologists who feed at
the trough of many hundreds of thousands if not a combined million dollars
worth of research have responded to TWRA about how and where to fetch one
on the spur of the moment. If this fledgling Golden Eagle does not make it
more than a few days back in the wild, then there is a good opportunity to
get the unit back and cash it in to whomever sold it to TWRA --but all of
that has probably been thought thru very carefully. Even what computer
system could be used to download the tracking of this bird. We'll probably
learn that TWRA plans do that in downtown Nashville.
-- hopefully, down the road, we will learn that Virginia can help
Tennessee learn how to quickly get going with Golden Eagle trapping during the
winter if we then know where eagles can be found. Of course that is depending
on how much time guys like Cooper can spare while working at goal of
trapping and putting transmitters on 90 Bald Eagles on a military base in
eastern Virginia starting this winter.
Perhaps the Tennessee Ornithological Society has been asked for emergency
approval to fund the transmitter for $2,500. It would be one of the good
things they do on a rainy day with a rainy day
bank account surplus.
Just can't wait......
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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