Azalea Makes Quick Visit to Norfolk
Crop, Ears, Feather Tracts
March 22, 2010How Old are The NBG Adults?
March 25, 2010
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!! Bet you thought when you heard that Azalea was in Currituck County that she flew straight there from Bertie County. That would have been a short flight of about an hour or so, and about 40 miles. You would be wrong. She flew to Currituck County via Norfolk, VA, a trip of about 200 miles.
On March 17 Azalea arrived in Bertie County south of Aulander, NC and near the Bertie County landfill about 4:00pm. I expect based on her behavior in the past that most of us thought she would hang around there for a few days. Nope! Surprise #1 – She left the next morning, flying west into Halifax County, south of Scotland Neck and almost to Enfield by 2:00pm. She then turned north flying over Halifax and a bit after 4:00pm crossed back into Virginia in Greenville County and veered back eastward into Southampton County and rested overnight near Capron, VA. She continued her journey the morning of Mar 19 flying east over Courtland at noon, Franklin by 1:00pm, Suffolk and north end of the Great Dismal Swamp NWR by 2:00pm. A slight turn north put her over downtown Portsmouth at 3:00pm, then over downtown Norfolk and by 4:00pm she was over the Thoroughgood neighborhood in Virginia Beach. Surprise #2 – Satisfied that all was well at home, she turned south and by 5:00pm was over Fentress airfield in Chesapeake and into Currituck County, NC by 5:30pm. From there she continued south to the north end of the North River just west of Coinjock, NC and spent the night. Surprise #3 – Bet you thought she was on her way back to Alligator River NWR. Wrong again! All day Mar 20, 21 and 22 she explored the North River watershed in Currituck and Camden Counties. The North River is part of the Intracoastal Waterway. She has returned to the same “roost” each of the four nights she has been there, indicating that there are probably other bald eagles in the area. That is where she is as of this satellite map March 23 at 1:00am.
Click on maps to enlarge.
12 Comments
That girl really gets around. Just so she is safe. Thanks for the update Reese.
Reese, thanks again for the update. In your opinion do you think this is normal behavior for a juvie like Azalea? If so, how long before she will settle down in one area for a while? It really is amazing to see how much ground they can cover is a short period of time and this from the eaglet we thought would never leave NBG!
Pam – The travels of Azalea are normal. Just what we see in other juveniles. She will wander like this for about 4 years before she settles down and finds a mate. But, she does surprise us at times by doing the unexpected. That too is normal.
All I can say is “WOW”….what a traveler!
Azalea was just celebrating her birthday by traveling back to the Norfolk area for a quick trip!
Reese, how far from Norfolk do you think Azalea might go? Or do eagles tend to stay within a certain range of their birthplace?
Reese, thanks for the update on our Diva!!
This is amazing at the mileage she is getting under those frequent flier wings.Thank you for the updates.
Violet – Wandering about is what young bald eagles do. If you look at the “track record” of other young bald eagles that CCB has fitted with transmitters on http://www.wildlifetracking.org, you will see that Azalea is doing just about the same as the others. I expect we will see her expand her range. What will be of great interest when she enters her second year wearing a transmitter is will she return to places she visited last year or seek out new locations. I expect she will do some of both.
Violet – Thanks for the reminder. In all the excitement over our 3 new triplets, I forgot to notice that AZALEA was 1 year old on March 22. Happy Birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AZALEA,
I was wondering about the transmitter…If the battery life is a minimum of 3 yrs, what happens when the battery officially dies? End of tracking?
LOL Reese can’t believe you forgot our Diva’s birthday !!! HE’s birthday is tomorrow – I fixed them a Happy Birthday topic on the forum.
I too am very excited with our new eaglets -but will never forget our beautiful AZ. I still have high hopes she will eventually settle in NC.
Thank you so very much for all of your updates and all the wonderful knowledge you share with us. It is great of you to spend so much time with us. Dixie
She’s had you on your toes, Reese!! Glad to hear she seems to be comfortable getting around. You taking a road trip to Currituck soon? Not too far away really!