photo by Peter Hamilton
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Gunther has climbed down into a grain hopper to rescue me. By the time I was found, the three other eagles who were trapped in the hopper had already died. |
| My first solid food. I'm not very well yet as you can tell because I am still in the heating unit to keep me warm. |
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I'm starting to feel pretty perky now. Don't I show off well? |
| Aren't I a very lucky eagle. |
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I am strong enough now to go into the flight area with the rest of the recuperating eagles. When I am able to fly and hunt again for myself they will let me go back to the wild and be a real eagle again. |
| Well. that ones ready to leave. I sure hope I'm next. |
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YES,
Up,Up and AWAY |
This was a very special eagle because for three mornings after he was released, Nancy found him waiting outside the eagle cage. She asked him if he wanted his breakfast and he followed her into the cage. This in itself is remarkable. After eating, she offered him the door and he flew away. I guess he just wanted a few more free meals. He had been at the Shelter for about 5 months after he had been poisoned and had a broken wing. It was a miracle he survived as he was in terrible shape. During his recovery when Nancy was in the cage he would reach out and gently pull on her shirt to get her attention off of the cage cleaning and on to himself. He was named "the Gentleman" because he always was. He was recognizable because had been marked before release and one day about 5 months after he left he arrived back at the shelter for a visit, accompanied by about a dozen other mature eagles. This has never happened before or since.
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This young eagle was brought in suffering from malnutrition because the growth
above his eye made it impossible for him to see properly or hunt accurately.
Removal of the growth, by massaging the virus caused wart, gave him back the
ability to live in the wild and fend for himself.
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These are some photographs taken of a deceased eagle. Even in death she has a
story to tell. She had been feeding on the carcass of a road killed moose by
the Yellowhead highway, east of Prince Rupert. On takeoff she was not able to
fly straight up and
ended up angling across the road where she was hit and killed by a car. The
transmitter and leg band on her identified her as part of an American study on
eagles. She was trapped on the Skagit River on 2/5/98 and was a particularly
aggressive female (usually the females are placid, and the males bite and
squirm). Leaving the Skagit River on 2/18/98 and migrating along the BC coast
to SE Alaska on the 27th of March. She remained in the island chain on
Wrangell, Mitkof, and Kupreanof Islands for the summer (non-breeder; 4 years
old last spring). On the 22nd of January this year she moved to the Nass
River, spent February on Work Channel, and her last location was on the 23rd of
February at 7:51 PM just south of Prince Rupert. She must have flown east on
the 24th where she was hit and killed.
The most interesting aspect of her movements was that she didn't migrate
southward in the winter, and most of the birds in the study did. It is
possible she was starting to move south late in the winter when she was killed.
Eagles are trapped on gravel bars along the river where they feed on salmon carcasses. Snares placed around the carcasses, and controlled remotely, are used to capture the birds. Blue band markers are placed on the legs of all captured eagles, identifying the Skagit River (S), year of capture (8), and a letter specific to the eagle (k). Satellite transmitters are attached to adult eagles with backpack harnesses. Signals from the transmitters are received by NOAA satellites and location data are sent to ground stations then retrieved via computer by biologists. Within 2 hours of transmission, the biologist can know the location of the eagle anywhere in the world. Transmitters will function for 3 years, and then drop from the birds. All eagle carcasses are accounted for and returned to the Conservation officers. This eagle had special permission to be shipped frozen to Vancouver, B.C, where she was retrieved by her study group for autopsy. |
