Golden Eagle Released With GPS Tracking Device

It’s not that unusual to see Bald eagles in Connecticut. But Golden eagles are rare. In all there are only one to two thousand of these birds in the entire eastern United States. That’s why a horde of bird enthusiasts gathered on a windswept ridge top in Goshen yesterday to see a Golden eagle released into the wild. WNPR’s Nancy Cohen reports how the bird came to Connecticut.

One day last month farmer Brian Hawks was snowmobiling in Amenia, NY, just over the border from Connecticut, when he saw something on the side of the trail.

“I didn’t know what it was and I walked over to it and it spread its wings up. Then it tried to get away and its foot was clubbed up.”

It was a chocolate brown bird with a sharp beak and a splash of yellow feathers on the back of its head; a Golden eagle with an injured leg. Hawks threw his coat over the bird, placed it on his lap and snowmobiled away. He took it across the border to the Audubon Center in Sharon, Connecticut. Eventually it was brought to the Tufts University Wildlife Clinic in Massachusetts. Veterinarian Emily Christiansen says the wounds on the bird’s leg healed quickly, but the foot was worrisome.

“Because a bird of prey that can’t use its foot we can’t release it.”

The bird’s foot eventually got better. While it healed it was well-fed. Even though it turned up its beak to a meal of squirrel or rat.

“The only thing we got this bird eating was quail, other birds, which is unusual. He ate very well. He ate us out of house and home as far as quail goes,” said Christiansen.

On a windy hilltop in Mohawk State Forest, Conservation Biologist Todd Katzner stretches out the big bird’s wings which have a seven to eight foot span to take a good look at its plumage.

“We’ll probably need some space to do this. And what I’d like to get pictures of the front and the back of the bird. Could you take that wing?”

Earlier, Katzner had outfitted the bird with a kind of tiny backpack that carries a GPS unit with solar rechargeable batteries.

“It’s going to collect GPS data points every 15 minutes. It’s going to store them and then once a day it’s going to try to send that data over the cell phone network.”

And if it can’t get cell service, the unit can store up to a summer’s worth of data points before sending them back.

Golden eagles breed in Quebec in the summer, and winter either in Northern New York, Vermont, and Maine or further south in Appalachia.

Katzner, who is based at West Virginia University, gets some of his funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. That’s because he’s trying to track the Golden eagle’s movements so he can build a model that predicts where to build wind turbines that aren’t on the Golden eagle’s flight path. 

“We’ll have a map that basically shows areas of high and low risk to birds from the development of wind turbines. And ultimately those types of maps can guide the development of wind energy. So that people can put turbines that are safe for Golden eagles and they can avoid places that are dangerous.”

With the GPS unit smugly in its place, veterinarian Emily Christiansen places the bird on the ground. Without hesitation the Golden eagle spreads its wings and takes off directly into the wind.

“Way cool!”

Brian Hawks, who had rescued the bird, had a big smile on his face.

“Pretty special, watching him fly away!”

Scientists predict the bird will head north to breed in Quebec. They’ll be able to kind of ride on the bird’s shoulder, followings its movement across the landscape.

For WNPR I’m Nancy Cohen.