BETA02 (tracked 3/19/19 - 1/15/20) - Hancock Wildlife Foundation

BETA02 (tracked 3/19/19 – 1/15/20)

HWF tracked bald eagle BETA02 was found injured and nearly dead by our one of our directors in January 2019. She was incredibly lethargic and underweight and presumed to have suffered from rodenticide or lead poisoning. She was taken to OWL Rehab Center in Delta and was subsequently nursed back to health. BETA02 was banded on March 19, 2019, receiving USFW band number 0709-00338 and a more readable yellow band on the left leg with black characters E over 1. Once she had recovered her strength, she was released with a transmitter on March 21, 2019. She left nearly immediately thereafter to head north to the Yukon for the breeding season. BETA02 is presumed to be about 4.5 years old based upon some black flecking and subadult plumage in her wings and breast, so may be looking for promising places to nest, but probably is not quite ready to settle down yet.

Update: We were able to follow BETA02’s travels for almost a year, and were surprised that she spent much of the summer (from about April 17 to September 22) in the southwest corner of Yukon, with a couple of jaunts into the adjacent northwest corner of BC. We didn’t get complete data from that time (it looks as if it’s a remote area where cell towers may be few and far between) but there was enough to get an overview of her activities. We were sorry that she stopped transmitting before possibly returning as a full adult and nesting in the area she explored during the year we could follow her travels. There’s a summary of her travels further down the page.

Summary of Recorded Travels

BETA02 was found underweight and lethargic and taken to OWL in January 2019, where she spent time recovering
She was subsequently banded on March 19 and released on March 21st
Upon release, BETA02 immediately headed to Salmon Inlet (inland a bit from Sechelt) and stayed there March 22-29
After that, she headed up the coast, reaching Prince Rupert (700km/435mi away) on April 3rd
She then crossed to the Alaskan Panhandle on April 4th, then on to the Wrangell area April 7-15
On April 17 she crossed a tiny bit of BC then went into the Yukon
She stayed in the southwest corner of the Yukon and the bit of BC just south of it from April 17 to September 22
After that, BETA02 headed down to the coast, arriving around September 26, then headed up to Yakutat; she was in that area from October 3 to October 24
Data points were scarce from then through December 5th, but it looks as if she went inland, possibly following rivers; I don’t know if the lack of data is because it’s such a remote area, or if her tracker was beginning to fail.
She was on Admiralty Island, halfway down the Panhandle, on December 6.
BETA02 uploaded data on January 2, 2020, from a bit further south on the Alaskan Panhandle; she had been out of touch since July 19; the trackers store data if the eagles aren’t near a cell tower for a while – but they don’t have a lot of memory, which may be why there’s not much data for some of that time. If you compare her final map with the screenshot I posted on January 5 (link), you’ll see there was initially no data for the time spent up near Yakutat.
She uploaded data again on January 15, by which time she was almost back to Vancouver – and that was the last time we heard from her. I’m hoping the tracker failed and she is fine – but we won’t know unless someone spots her bright yellow and black band.