BACA01 (tracked 2/9/18 - 3/28/19) - Hancock Wildlife Foundation

BACA01 (tracked 2/9/18 – 3/28/19)

BACA01 is an adult male captured on 09 February 2018 at Vancouver Landfill in Delta, about 20km east of Vancouver as the eagle flies. He was banded by Myles Lamont and Sandi Lee, and has a blue leg band M over 2 on his left leg.. This bird interestingly traveled south towards Bellingham, Washington, shortly after release and we lost all contact with him for several weeks until he reappeared on March 11 2018 near the Canadian border in Sumas, WA. While away, he traveled down to the Oregon/Washington border along the Columbia River just south of Kennewick, WA and spent several days along the Columbia River before heading north back to Canada, and then up to Alaska, where he spent several months before heading back through BC to Washington state.

Personal note from JudyB: BACA01 was the first eagle we followed – and we have no idea what happened to cause him to stop transmitting. As some of you know, I’m an eternal optimist, so I’m going with the theory that he caught a really big fish, and it managed to knock off the tracker, or flapped enough to break it. Or maybe it just wore out. Wherever you are, BACA01, I wish you fair winds and lots of fish!

Please check out our forum page for his travels – forum member SueB has some great pictures of the areas he explored – https://forum.hancockwildlife.org/viewtopic.php?f=95&t=300. There are also some great pictures of him on the second page on the forum, with a link to them in the first post.

Summary of Recorded Travels:

Banded February 9, 2018, at the Vancouver Landfill in Delta, BC.

Headed South, ending up by the Oregon/Washington border along the Columbia River on February 18, and stayed in that area until March 5, when he headed North again.

Crossed back into Canada around March 12.

Continued heading north in a leisurely fashion, crossing into the Alaskan Panhandle March 27 or 28; he spent the spring and early summer mostly on islands off the panhandle, including Wrangell, Woronkofski and Zarembo Islands, then started heading further north on July 5, reaching St. Terese (a bit north of Juneau) around July 8 and staying there until around July 26, when he headed south to Juneau. He explored the area between Juneau and part of nearby Admiralty Island until August 14, when he began heading south down Admiralty Island, then eventually across to Kuiu Island for a while, and back to Zarembo Island on October 20. He stayed in that general area until January 3, 2019, when he began heading south.

He crossed back into BC on January 5 or 6, and headed steadily south, reaching the area around Big Bay and Stuart Island on January 19; he stayed there until January 28, then headed south again. passing by Vancouver on February 4-5. He spent a few days near Abbotsford, gradually making his way south, and crossed into Washington state around February 12.

He did not go as far south this time, spending some time in Rockport, ending up near the Sauk River, near Darrington, where he spent February 26-28. Then he headed north again.

He crossed back into BC and was north of Vancouver by March 2nd. He made good time heading north, and reached Prince Rupert by March 6.

He crossed into the Alaskan Panhandle the next day, and was back to the islands where he spent the most time the previous year by March 10. He spent the rest of March there, uploading data for the last time around 5 pm on the evening of March 28, 2019.