Azalea Visiting Research Station in NC
Azalea Back Near Roper, NC
March 29, 2010Banding the NBG Eaglets March 31
March 29, 2010
After spending several days on the North River watershed in Currituck County, NC, Azalea left there about 8:00am March 24 and flew back to Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge and spent the night near the Wildlife Drive. She left Mattamuskeet about 1:00pm on March 25 flying northwest and arriving back at the Tidewater Research Station just east of Plymouth, NC about 2:00pm. She is spending her daytime hours visiting the 18 ponds filled with fish. The manager of the station tells me that he has counted as many as 35 bald eagles there at one time. At night she is apparently resting in a communal roost with the other visiting eagles in woods south of the research station. As of this satellite map at 7:00pm March 28, that is where she is.
6 Comments
so many fish – so many new friends !
Is there a chance she may join migrating eagles ?
Rose – When I asked the research station manager if there were other eagles visiting there I expected him to say yes – 4, 5 or 6. But when he told me he had counted up to 35 it was really a surprise. Are they all locals? Are some migrants like Azalea? Of course we don’t know for sure, but it is a good guess that others are just like Azalea, wandering about the countryside looking for the best place to get food. Will she join with other wandering eagles? I think she is too independent, and will continue to do her own thing.
Up to 35 Eagles? WOW! That is definately worth a car ride!
what fun !- we will get to see just what our Diva will do.– Thanks to CCB for the opportunity
It’s fun to think HE and HK might be there, too. I REALLY wish you could put transmitters on all three of the new ‘lets to see if they ever interact after fledging.
I hope they don’t mind that “our” research subject is eating “their” research subjects! (I have heard people around here [Fauquier County] say bad things about eagles and herons predating their ornamental ponds. Thank goodness these birds are protected by law.) An internet friend in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, has taken pictures of probably 100 eagles who were hanging out in a grocery store parking lot, where one of the fishing vessels had laid out its nets…the eagles were all over the place scavenging bits of fish. I tend to think of eagles as relatively solitary birds, but maybe just like house cats, if there’s an abundant source of food, they are able to work out a way to co-exist.