Center for Conservation Biology

April 3, 2018

A good year for woodpeckers

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 April 3, 2018 2017 was a good year for red-cockaded woodpeckers in Virginia.  The combined spring, breeding, and […]
April 2, 2018

Networking Eagles

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 April 2, 2018 Nonbreeding bald eagles are highly social and form communal roosts around profitable foraging sites.  We […]
March 30, 2018

Flying to Mecca

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 March 30, 2018 Fletcher Smith and I had been working birds on the Acadian Peninsula for ten days. […]
January 8, 2018

Gender Divide in Bald Eagles

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 January 8, 2018 Unlike many familiar bird species, male and female bald eagles have identical plumage making them […]
January 8, 2018

Virginia Peregrines have Mixed Year in 2017

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 January 7, 2018 Virginia supported a known population of 29 pairs of peregrine falcons during the 2017 breeding […]
January 8, 2018

Moving Woodpeckers 3

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 January 6, 2018 “She’s a peeker,” I whispered over the radio to let Bart Paxton know that the […]
January 5, 2018

Bald Eagle Purple DC Jan 1, 2018

On April 23, 2010 Dr Bryan Watts and Libby Mojica banded 3 nestling bald eagles in their nest along the Colonial Parkway in Williamsburg, VA. One […]
January 3, 2018

Using the sword of Damocles to decapitate The Migratory Bird Treaty Act

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 January 3, 2018 On 22 December as the nation was gearing down for the festive Christmas holiday, the […]
November 7, 2017

Grace Transmitter Stops Sending Signal

The last satellite signal from the transmitter that bald eagle Grace is wearing was at 6:43am on October 17 near the mouth of the Poropotank River […]
November 2, 2017

Location October 29-31, 2017 Bald Eagles with Transmitters

In May 2016 biologists with the Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) banded 12 nestling Bald Eagles in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Va with purple bands and […]
October 30, 2017

No New Data for Grace Oct 30, 2017

Well, it is not clear at this date as to the status of the satellite transmitter that Grace is wearing. There was no new data from […]
October 23, 2017

Grace Remains on York River 10/17/2017

There is very little satellite data for Grace this week. Only 2 days, Oct 14 and 17. She is on Puritan Island at the mouth of […]
October 16, 2017

Grace on York River Oct 14, 2017

Very few satellite data points this week. Grace has flown northwest from Poquoson to the York river across from York River State Park. As of this […]
October 9, 2017

Grace Returns to Poquoson, VA Oct 8, 2017

Grace spent the week on the move. She began the week at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Dare County, NC. She then flew west […]
October 6, 2017

A tough year for Chesapeake osprey

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 October 6, 2017 The grumblings have gotten louder and louder over the past three years and have increasingly […]
October 5, 2017

Clutch size in Chesapeake Bay bald eagles: an unexpected history

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 October 5, 2017 There was a time during the late 1800s through the mid-1900s when bird eggs were […]
October 4, 2017

No good news for eastern black rails in NC and GA

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 October 4, 2017 The eastern black rail is listed as endangered in six states and is currently under […]
October 3, 2017

Reese Lukei, Jr.

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 October 3, 2017 One half hour before dawn we walked the trail in darkness with no conversation, placed […]