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Nov 18, 2009 7:48 am US/Central
National Group Tracks Golden Eagle With GPS Unit
(WCCO)
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The golden eagle may not be as well known as the American bald eagle but the bird is being sighted more and more around the state.
CBS
While the American Bald Eagle is a well-known majestic part of the Minnesota landscape, many may not realize that as these sharp-eyed birds perch in the treetops along the Mississippi River, their close cousins stand by in the nearby bluffs.
"It's a creature that people were unaware was here," said Scott Mehus, of the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, who has been watching golden eagles for nearly 15 years.
Mehus said it's been difficult convincing people that the gold-headed birds call our neck of the woods home too.
"Everyone goes out west to see a golden eagle," he said. "That's where I saw my first golden eagle was going out west."
And a lot of people tend to misidentify the golden eagle, he said. So it was another case of mistaken identity when an injured bird was brought in last year.
Its leg had been caught in a hunter's trap and people thought it was an immature bald eagle without its white head feathers.
But Mehus recognized it as a golden eagle.He'd been tracking it for years and has even named it.
"He was with this female that had sort of rust coloration to the back and his was paler and white, and so I started calling him Whitey," Mehus said.
Vets at the Raptor Center did surgery on his leg and soon Whitey was taking practice flights. After Whitey made a full recovery, a small GPS tracking unit was put into a little back pack and attached with strings. Then in March, back near the place where it was injured, Whitey the eagle was released.
Mehus and others started tracking Whitey's travels. Turns out, Whitey went straight north -- past Lake Superior and past Hudson Bay. The GPS unit mapped his movements until mid-July. That's when Whitey settled in.
"This is the area up in Nunavut across the Arctic Circle, where he spent the summer," Mehus said.
Unlike bald eagles, golden eagles don't need to be near water. Instead of fish, golden eagles hunt for small mammals and birds. But once the weather starts to get cold, it's time to migrate south.
Whitey started moving in early October, averaging 50 to 100 miles a day at first, Mehus said.
The GPS signals pinpoint his travels around the edge of Lake Superior. It's taken just a few weeks for Whitey to return to the area.
A solar panel on the GPS unit keeps it charged and sending fresh data and Whitey is providing some to the best research known about golden eagles.
"So we're crossing our fingers that old Whitey here will give us data for the next five to seven years," he said. "He may be out there. It's just about 20 miles as the golden eagle flies."
The researchers said through the GPS unit, they've found Whitey settled in an area near Menomonie, Wis., where he seems to have found a temporary home for the moment. They're hoping to head out soon to reunite with Whitey.
Joan Gilbertson, Producer
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