News: Eagles

[The Peregrine Chick]

Think this is the story you saw Sheltiegirl ...


Bald eagles return to Lake Ontario shore
Jim Wilkes, Toronto Star Staff Reporter

Are a couple of American icons making babies in a Hamilton marsh?

If successful, the pair of bald eagles nesting in a tall white pine in Cootes Paradise just might be breeding the first homegrown young on Lake Ontario’s north shore in 50 years.  The majestic creature, whose wingspan is more than two metres, is the national bird and a patriotic symbol of the United States.

The eagles were first spotted in the wilderness area west of Highway 403 in 2009, when the male was too immature to reproduce, said Tys Theijsmeijer, head of natural lands for Burlington’s Royal Botanical Gardens.

“We’ve just been waiting for the immature one to graduate to adulthood,” he said. “In the interim they built a nest.”

Last year, the big birds moved to another pine tree in the area, so this year work crews cleared an area in a tree near a public viewing platform along the marsh’s boardwalk to encourage the birds to settle where naturalists could monitor them more easily.  But the eagles moved back to their original home last month, about half a kilometre from the closet vantage point.

“It’s nice to know they’re smarter than us,” Theijsmeijer said. He said no one really knows if the female has laid eggs yet, but bird watchers are keeping their fingers crossed.

“We’re pretty sure that if they were going to lay eggs it was in the past two weeks,” he explained. “So we’re looking at mid to late April to see little heads poking up in the nest.”

A hundred years ago, bald eagles were a common sight along Lake Ontario. But toxic pesticides slowly killed off most of the population.

“The water became polluted with DDT used in agriculture that washed off the land into the lake,” Theijsmeijer said. “The poison got into the fish, the birds ate the fish and it caused the shells of the birds to be thin and shatter. So we just ran out of bald eagles.”

DDT was banned in the United States in 1972 and in Canada in 1989, although its use had been restricted for more than a decade before that.  Theijsmeijer said that by 1980, only four bald eagle nests remained in southern Ontario.  He said there are now about 32 nests along the lower Great Lakes, including areas north of Toronto and near Peterborough.

“It’s been a slow but steady climb back,” he said. “We’re finally getting the big bird back to the big lake.”

The bald eagles at Cootes Paradise kept a low profile on Tuesday, hunkering down in their nest for long periods, making just a few forays out to sit in another tree before returning home.

“More often than not, they’re really not doing anything, unless they go hunting and you just see them circling,” Theijsmeijer said, manoeuvring an aluminum boat to give visitors a closer look."  He said he hopes efforts to clean up the area and make a nurturing habitat for the eagles will pay off. “Maybe 50 years from now the shoreline will be strewn with so many bald eagles that they’ll be commonplace once again.”


http://www.thestar.com/news/article/958893--bald-eagles-return-to-lake-ontario-shore

[sheltiegirl]

Not sure if this is the right place but TPC can move it if I am wrong. And the story did not linger for long on the main page of the Toronto Star online but apparently birdy folk around Hamilton Ontario believe there is a breeding pair of bald eagles nesting in a marsh called Cootes Paradise . If this is true it will be the first eagles born on the north shore of Lake Ontario in 50 years. There are bald eagles in areas north of Toronto and near Peterborough 32 nests I think in total but this will be the first on the lake shore in a long time. I am not sure how to post a link and the story was so fleeting I had to use the search function on the main page to go back and check the details. Fingers crossed and I will keep watching for details. sg

[Cammie]

Touch and go for wind-wounded eaglets

It’s touch and go for two bald eaglets rescued when their nest west of Hyde Park blew down in a wind storm Friday night.  The two eaglets, thought to be about two months old, survived a 15-metre fall but suffered leg fractures requiring surgery, said Brian Salt of Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation. The two birds are in a protected aviary at the Mt. Brydges facility. 

Salt said leg fractures are very serious injuries for raptors such as eagles. “Their legs and talons are like their guns.” He said one of the birds will require a pin to repair a leg fracture.  In recent years other young eagles have been rescued with similar injuries and didn’t survive, Salt said.

Local resident Don Fairbairn was the first to see the nest was down. He’s been watching it as long as it’s been there.  “First thing I do every morning at seven is look at the nest,” he said.  Fairbairn called a friend at the Ministry of Natural Resources for advice. The friend said the eaglets would almost certainly be dead. But Fairbairn hopped on his ATV and headed across the fields to see what he could do.  When he got to the site, he found the eaglets in a tangle of underbrush.

“The important thing was they were alive,” Fairbairn said. With mama and papa eagle circling menacingly overhead, Fairbairn gathered the eaglets under his arms — “just like you do with a chicken.”

Surgery for eagles is highly specialized and costly. Salthaven will pay for the surgery but is dependent on donations to provide such care.  Bald eagles have been making a comeback in southern Ontario, but the numbers are still low. It’s estimated there are 20 nesting pairs in southern Ontario. Only 28 eaglets fledged in 2008.

Local businessperson Charlie Frank has been watching the Hyde Park birds closely for years. He’s watched the nest through his binoculars every day.  A big part of his business, Hyde Park Feed and Country Store, is wild bird feed and he has a special concern for the fate of the eaglets. He’s erected a sign in front of his store on Gainsborough Rd. encouraging people to donate to Salthaven.

The eagles have been returning to the nest for three years. Each year they add more material to it. Salt wasn’t sure of its exact size and weight of the next but said “it was about the size of a small car.”

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2010/05/12/13927776-lfp.html#/news/london/2010/05/12/pf-13926936.html[/color]

[Alison]

Sea eagle death in Kerry park brings total to 13

ANOTHER WHITE-TAILED sea eagle has been found poisoned in sheep-farming country in Kerry, bringing to 13 the number of birds lost since their release into the Killarney National Park three years ago.

Kites, falcons, eagles – golden and white-tailed – buzzards and other birds of prey reintroduced into Ireland have been lost in what the various bodies involved described in a joint statement yesterday as “a spate of poisoning”.  The latest bird found is the second male sea eagle in weeks to have been poisoned in the river Laune and Beaufort area near Killarney in the foothills of the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks, an area which eagles frequent in search of fish.  Both were poisoned by Carbofuran, a banned pesticide commonly used by farmers on dead carcasses to poison foxes and crows during the lambing season, laboratory tests revealed. They were about three years old.

Since their reintroduction, seven white-tailed sea eagles have been confirmed poisoned in Kerry, two are suspected of having been poisoned, one was shot and two others died from natural causes. A 13th eagle was shot in the North.  Just shy of a quarter of the eagles have now been wiped out.

Twenty more are due to be brought in from Norway this year as part of the five-year programme. The scientist in charge of the sea eagle project, Dr Allan Mee, said yesterday the continuing loss of eagles to poisoning had cast a shadow over the future of the ambitious programme.  There was huge support for the project among the public and it was strongly supported by tourism bodies. The problem rested with individual sheep farmers, according to Dr Mee, most of whom had now come around to the idea.

“The loss of a further two white-tailed eagles at this time is devastating . . . We know that eagles can thrive in Kerry if given the chance but indiscriminate poisoning is literally killing our chances of re-establishing a population here.”

In what has been described as the worst spate of poisoning in recent years, 10 protected birds of prey, including three red kites, two white-tailed eagles, a golden eagle, three buzzards and a peregrine falcon have been confirmed poisoned in the Republic. Two red kites and a peregrine were found dead in Wicklow, a third red kite released in Northern Ireland was found dead in Kildare, a golden eagle in Leitrim and buzzards in west Waterford, east Cork and Donegal (one of which recovered from poisoning). They were all poisoned by ingesting meat baits laced with Alphachloralose.

The Golden Eagle Trust is calling on the Department of Agriculture to initiate immediate farm inspections where poisonings occurred. The trust said the department had failed to ensure that farmers in receipt of direct payments from the EU for rural environmental protection and other schemes observe the law on the protection of birds of prey.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0504/1224269640141.html

[Alison]

10 birds of prey found poisoned in Irish Republic

Ten protected birds of prey have been confirmed poisoned across the Irish Republic in recent weeks.

The birds included a golden eagle, as well as two red kites, two white-tailed eagles, three buzzards and a peregrine falcon.

One of the red kites had been released in Northern Ireland and was found dead in County Kildare.

The birds died after eating meat baits laced with pesticides, one of which is illegal in Ireland.

Two red kites and the peregrine were found dead in County Wicklow, the third red kite in Kildare, a golden eagle in County Leitrim, and buzzards in west Waterford, east Cork and County Donegal.

Within the last few weeks two white-tailed eagles were found dead near Beaufort, County Kerry.

Both eagles were said to be in excellent condition and had been surviving well in the wild for two or three years.

An investigation is being carried out by the Department of Agriculture and the Garda.

"The loss of a further two white-tailed eagles at this time is devastating," said Dr Allan Mee, manager of the White-tailed Eagle Reintroduction Project in Kerry.

"The older male could have been one of the first birds to breed in the wild in Ireland in over 100 years had it survived. Indiscriminate poisoning is literally killing our chances of re-establishing a population here," he added.

Fifty-five of the eagles have been released in Kerry since 2007. Thirteen of them have now been found dead, seven of them confirmed poisoned.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8658193.stm

[Alison]

FORE! Bald Eagle Pegged By Errant Golf Shot
 
A South Florida man's bad golf shot downed America's bird
By TODD WRIGHT

Not even America's symbol of liberty can avoid attack from bad South Florida golfing.

Wildlife officials said an errant golf shot nearly ended the life of a young bald eagle that was flying across a golf course in Vero Beach late last month, according to TCPalm.com.  The 2-year-old bird was minding its own business flying across the Sandridge Golf Course when it entered a fairway and became the accidental target of a tee shot. The unidentified golfer was probably aiming for a different eagle, the one on his golf score sheet.  The golf ball hit the bird in the wing and witnesses said the eagle came crashing out of the sky, eventually hitting a tree before laying limp on the grass.  It suffered a broken wing and has since been recovering at the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center in Palm City. Vets say the animal is doing well.

No word on who the golfer was or if he yelled out "FORE!" as is proper bad golf shot procedure, but the incident is being ruled as an accident. It is illegal to attack or trap a bald eagle, which is federally protected as a threatened species.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/weird/FOUR-Bald-Eagle-Pegged-By-Wayward-Tee-Shot-91526599.html

[Alison]

Trapper John the Bald Eagle - Part 8

The Bald Eagle we call "Trapper" continues to improve. You can see his foot ( L.) is still swollen and not 100% functional, but he has not lost any toes and is using the leg well.



Another eagle from the town of Texas, who had been caught in a coyote trap, is also doing well:



We are cautiously optimistic about both of these eagles, but recovery will be an extended period, as not only the tissue has to mend, but also blood routes reestablished in the affected legs and feet, as well as nerves that were severely damaged.

http://raptoreducationgroup.blogspot.com/

[Alison]

Trapper John the Bald Eagle - Part 7

We have updates on our Bald Eagle patients. The photo below is "Trapper," the adult Bald Eagle that was caught up in a trap in October. He continues to improve. He does not yet have full movement of his toes on the left foot due to the swelling. He is using the foot, however, and we remain hopeful he will regain full use of his foot. It is a long process for the tissue and the nerves to repair in a compression or crushing injury.



REGI has just released three of the eagles they have been caring for; details on their blog:

http://raptoreducationgroup.blogspot.com/

[Alison]

Trapper John the Bald Eagle - Part 6

The eagle rescued from a leghold trap back in October continues to improve slowly, and the prognosis is looking good for him to be able to return to the wild at some stage.  No updates on the blog, but the newsletter had this small update.

He has already come a long way from the day he was rescued:

[Alison]

Two females, one male bald eagle fight over mating nest

PALM HARBOR — He's everything she's ever wanted in a man: distinguished, a caretaker, a homeowner.

She'll do anything to get him, even if that means taking out his better half. That's exactly what the hussy tried to do Saturday, authorities said Tuesday.

No, this isn't a recap of Fatal Attraction, the famous 1987 movie starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas. And the characters aren't people. This love triangle is playing out in the trees above a Palm Harbor neighborhood. The parties involved? Bald eagles.  According to officials at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland — eaglespeak for the hospital — the man-stealing flirt held the other bird down, plucked her feathers and almost killed her. The injured eagle weighed all of 9 pounds.

"Her chest looks like a Thanksgiving turkey — completely bare," said Lynda White, coordinator of the center's EagleWatch program. "She is beat up. She is just a mess."  No one knows if the male eagle was around at the time of the fight, but typically, mates don't come to one another's rescue, she said.

It all happened Saturday afternoon in the back yard of Russ and Becky Fernandes.  "My dog was barking like crazy out back," Russ Fernandes said. "I went out and looked. The eagle was out on the ground."  Bloodied and weak, she stood outside the lanai until he opened the screen door. Then she stumbled inside and into the pool.

He fished her out and notified the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, an Indian Shores bird rescue organization that later transported the eagle to the center in Maitland. It will be several months before the eagle's feathers grow back and the center releases her. That's a good thing. "She'd just get her rear beat up again probably," White said.

Reports of eagle fights increase this time of year. Nesting season, which started Oct. 1, doesn't end until May 15. During that time, the birds jockey for places to live. In Pinellas County, where development has paved over habitats as the eagle population has soared, the problem is even more acute.

"The birds in Pinellas are suffering from loss of habitat," White said. "That's why you have so many eagles there nesting on cell towers. It's crazy compared to the rest of the state. We have seen a steady increase in territory fights as population increases and territory decreases and I think that this is a classic example of that."

The offending eagle is still on the lam and has shown no signs of remorse. Three times since Saturday's nearly fatal fight, she has tried to move into the injured eagle's home, said Barb Walker, a local volunteer with the Audubon of Florida EagleWatch program and one of the first people Fernandes called.

She wants that nest, that house, that man," she said. Added White: "She's probably thinking to herself, 'Why should she go out and find a mate from scratch when she's found a ready­ made home for herself?' "

So far, the male eagle has rebuffed the young lady's advances. And now, they're going at it, too. Despite the domestic squabbling, she still wants him.  "She tries to fly to the nest and he won't let her in," Walker said. "He's fighting her off and chasing her out of the natal territory. It's a real drama playing out over there."

Drama seems to follow the injured eagle. Someone shot her in January 1996, fractured her right ulna and punctured her femur. She was so badly injured that the Audubon center kept her for two years while she recuperated and regained her strength. The center released her 6 miles northwest of Brooksville on Feb. 24, 1998.  "We hadn't heard from her since," the center's Dianna Flynt said in an e-mail Sunday to Walker.

White said the male eagle can only fend off the female's advances for so long. Eagles take turns incubating. While one sits on the eggs, the other feeds itself, returns to the nest and exchanges roles.   "Raising chicks is a two-parent job and this bird cannot continue to feed itself and keep the eggs warm," she said. "I wouldn't be surprised if he finally realizes this would be a lot easier if he had help. I'm thinking he's going to get really tired of this routine very quickly and she will move in."

"They live these soap opera lives," Walker said. "It's almost as if they were people."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/two-females-one-male-bald-eagle-fight-over-mating-nest/1055764



Another link, with a video:  http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/orange_news/120309-injured-eagle

[Alison]

Trapper John the Bald Eagle - Part 4

Our patient "Trapper John", the Bald Eagle caught in a leg hold trap in late October has become an emotional favorite not only with REGI staff but with our facebook and blog public too. Our weather has been unseasonably warm this week so yesterday he was transferred to an outdoor flight. This is in anticipation of his eventual release. He has come a long way since he was admitted. Honestly, I never thought I would see the day when he was flying again as he is today. You might recall his wings were badly battered as he struggled to stay afloat during the three days he spend in the Wisconsin River. He is still not "out of the woods" and will come back indoors when the weather turns frigid later this week. For now however he is outdoors for the first time since he was admitted.

While all of our patients are special, this Bald Eagle is even more so than most. His is incredibly patient with us and his predicament. I wish I could share with everyone just how amazing he is. For the few folks that have seen Trapper John in person, you know exactly what I mean.

Physically, "Trapper" has not gained the weight I hoped he would. He still weighs 7lbs. 11ozs. That is significantly underweight for a male northern Bald Eagle and is disappointing. His foot is still quite swollen and tender. He still suffers from physiologic stress, but is making progress. I will continue to update you on his progress. If he makes it through the many hurdles left before he regains his full health, we will have to have a huge celebration. We keep our fingers crossed for the day his release to the wild becomes reality.

 

[Alison]

Trapper John the Bald Eagle - Part 3

I am delighted to say that he is still with us. He continues to make slow progress. The key word here is progress.

He has been a stellar patient and has the hearts of so many. Today for the first time, he was dismayed with me and showed it when I caught him up to bring him inside. He spend most of the day out in a flight with another Bald Eagle in recovery. It was too cold tonight to leave him out.

He is still in fragile condition, but he is less convinced of that that I am. His appetite is not been great. That is an additional concern. He has some heart problems, I think from the exhaustion of the three day trip down the Wisconsin River while wearing a muskrat trap on his foot. We will see if that resolves when he is completely recovered from his other medical problems. I am soaking his affected foot in hot water in the evening to quell the inflammation of the soft tissue. Soaking the foot of a Bald Eagle in a hot water bath is not an easy task. I am thrilled his condition is improving each day.

I hate to get too optimistic, but so far so good. The best part is he seems at peace with his situation and is taking this captivity thing in stride. He is fascinated with us and what we are doing. He is an exceptional eagle, that seems to be keeping a mental log on humans. Some members of the Medford Bird Club were able to observe his enormous sense of self and calm during their tour on Saturday. It seems a contradiction at times that we are not able to share some of these cases in person with the public. Our federal permits do not allow the general public to come into contact with the birds that will be released, unless it is incidental to care. The birds themself teach so much better than any human ever could.

I am hoping for the best for him. He has been through so much.

In the first pic below, he is with another recovering eagle. He is now able to perch, whereas when he was rescued he was unable to stand.

 

[Alison]

Trapper John the Bald Eagle - Part 2

It is very good news that the trapped Bald Eagle has made great progress. He is still fighting pneumonia. That fact alone makes him still a critical case. We are trying hard not to get too excited! He has not had solid food or eaten on his own since admission. He has however gained 1 lb. 5 ozs. That speaks well of REGI staff that tube fed him liquid food and gave supportive around the clock care the past week. We are going slow on solid food, but he is eating beef heart strips.

He has started to flap those very battered wings. Keep those positive thoughts coming his way.

 
First meal on his own                                                       Being very cooperative about being weighed

[Alison]

Trapper John the Bald Eagle

http://raptoreducationgroup.blogspot.com/

 

 

[maggieblue]

Geriatric pair of bald eagles has new chicks

Posted: 24/06/2008 10:25 AM

They might be senior citizens in the bird world, but they haven't lost their libido. A pair of bald eagles at the Assiniboine Park Zoo who are in their 40s -- equivalent to 110 in human years -- had two new baby chicks.

"I think it's interesting to equate it to human years because it would be impossible to breed at that stage for humans," said Bob Wrigley, the zoo's curator who announced the hatching of the baby chicks on Monday . "They're so senior they were having trouble flying up to the nest box so they moved it to a lower area."

The eagles here in Winnipeg are grey-headed and the male is blind in one eye. Most eagles, though, don't even survive in the wilderness past 30, let alone produce offspring, Wrigley said.

The pair was donated to the zoo more than 40 years ago by Manitoba Conservation's Wildlife Branch and the Calgary Zoo. Before the pair could breed 23 chicks in 25 years, they first got to know each other during a nine-year love affair, Wrigley said.

"They mate for life and they're really good pals," he said. "I love to hear them call back and forth."

The last time the female's eggs actually hatched was three years ago, Wrigley said

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/historic/32915599.html