BETA04/Loki (tracked since 7/17/2020)

HWF tracked bald eagle BETA04/Loki is a very special eagle to many of us because we watched her grow up on the Surrey Reserve eagle nest cams – you may know her as Loki. She is also special to this study because we know her exact age – she hatched at 9:23 pm on April 6, 2020, about a day and a half after older sibling Thor.

Loki fledged, or took her first flight from the nest, at 8:15 am on the morning of June 28 – about 2 hours before Thor. Both fledglings were doing a great job flying in and out of the nest for a couple of days – until Loki tried landing on a power line the evening of July 1st and and was seen dangling from the line. Local residents called OWL (the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society) and they managed to catch her when she dropped from the line and tried to run away.

Happily she had only one little black burn mark on the bottom of a toe as a reminder of her adventure, though she had to stay at OWL for a little over two weeks while they made sure there were no internal injuries. She quickly adapted to their flight cage and showed them she wanted to fly. She was released near the nest the afternoon of July 17.

We were hoping she would stop by the nest to say goodbye – but I think she was eager to be on her way north in search of salmon. The map shows how far she traveled in just a few days!

Loki did not have a blood test to determine her gender, but she weighed 4.5 kg/9.9 pounds so it’s very likely that she is female. And if you happen to be in a place eagles gather, keep your eye out for Loki – she’ll be the one with the blue band on her left leg with the silver characters D over 3.

Update April 2021 – Loki is now one year old – and has been busy exploring Washington and Oregon this spring. And happily, she has one of the newer trackers that work in both Canada and the United States, so we have been able to follow her travels.

Update January 2023 – Loki is continuing her travels, though she does seem to spend quite a bit of time in remote areas without many cell towers, so there are some gaps. We’ve added a lot more information about where she’s been further down on this page.

Please visit our Hancock Wildlife Forum thread for more information about where BETA04/Loki has been – and there are even pictures of Loki on her flight from Victoria to Washington, with big thanks to Daniel Donnecke (link)!

Eagle Adoption

Loki/BETA04 has been Adopted by:

2022 Nesting Season – September 2021 – August 2022
~ JudyB, in Memory of David Barrows ~

2023 Nesting Season – September 2022 – August 2023
~ JudyB, in Memory of David Barrows ~

Periods when Loki didn’t check in regularly* (last updated January 24, 2023)

August 1 – August 11, 2020
August 13 – August 21, 2020
August 27 – October 19, 2020
November 4 – December 15, 2020
December 16 – 23, 2020
December 27 – January 5, 2021
June 14-24, 2021
June 26 – July 1, 2021
July 6 – November 12, 2021 (there was a partial update on July 27 that only provided partial data from July 18 and 19; some dates were filled in eventually, but there are lots of gaps)
November 13 – 30, 2021
December 8-15, 2021
December 16, 2021 – January 29, 2022
February 3-17, 2022
April 25 – May 5, 2022
June 30 – November 6, 2022
November 8 – December 23, 2022
December 24 – January 2, 2023
January 5-23, 2023

*We don’t know why there are so many gaps in Loki’s data, but I suspect that the main reason is that she spends a lot of time in remote areas where there aren’t many cell towers; the trackers are designed to store data between downloads, but I’m not sure how much data they can store when she’s in a wilderness area for a month or three. It’s also possible that she spends time in areas with tall trees and lots of shade (the trackers need time in the sun to recharge) – and there’s a chance that her tracker has some sort of defect and requires more sun than most to stay charged. I am very glad that she is still checking in, and that we have an overview of the places she’s been – and hope the tracker continues to work at least most of the time.

Overview of Travels (last updated January 24, 2023)

hatched April 6 2020; fledged June 28, 2020; released from rehab July 17, 2020
BC: July 17 – August 16 or 17, 2020
Alaska: August 16/17 – September 22, 2020
BC: September 23 – February 9, 2021
Washington & Oregon: February 9 – March 30, 2021
BC: March 30 – April 5, 2021
~~~one year old~~~
Washington: April 6 – April 29, 2021
BC: May 1 – June 1, 2021
Alaska: June 2 – August 1 (possibly longer)
no data: August 2 – September 15
BC: September 16 – December 26, 2021
Washington and a bit of Oregon: January 6 – March 16, 2022
BC: March 16 – April 6, 2022 (quick trip into WA on March 25)
~~~two years old~~~
WA: April 6-9, 2022
BC: April 9-14, 2022
WA: April 14-29, 2022
BC: April 30 – May 13, 2022
WA: May 14 – June 4, 2022
BC: June 5-29, 2022
no data: June 30 – September 2, 2022 (maybe AK)
BC: September 3
no data: September 4 – November 5
BC: November 6
no data: November 7-28
WA: November 29 – (still there as of January 24)

Summary of Travels – Year One

BETA04/Loki hatched at 9:23 pm on April 6, 2020, on HWF’s Surrey Reserve eagle cam nest
She fledged, or took her first flight away from the nest, at 8:15 am on June 28 (83 days old)
She was found dangling from a power line on July 1st, and was rescued and taken to OWL; happily she did not have any serious injuries but was kept there until July 17, perfecting her flying skills in their large flight cage; while she was at OWL, she was banded and received her tracker
Loki was released at 4:40 pm on Friday, July 17, at Peace Arch Park, not far from her nest at Surrey Reserve; we had hoped she’d stop by the nest, but she had other ideas. Her sibling Thor visited the nest briefly at 9:07 pm on Sunday, July 19 and did some calling, and we thought we heard a second fledgling, so Loki/BETA04 may have been nearby. That was Thor’s final visit to the nest.
We began getting tracking data on Wednesday, July 22 – and it showed that she was at least a third of the way to the Alaskan Panhandle by Monday afternoon, and by Wednesday, she was in Bella Coola, which is 448km/279mi from Surrey – and she flew most of that on Monday. She explored the rivers around Bella Coola, checking in almost daily until August 1st, and then stopped uploading data.
Happily she checked in again on August 11, and by then she was near Nisga’a, close to the Alaskan border; the distance from Surrey to Nisga’a is about 800km/500mi
She crossed into Alaska on the 16th or 17th, and was up to Mitkof Island by the 21st (1094 kilometers or 680 miles from Surrey). She checked in again on the 26th from the same area, and appeared to be exploring the coastline and a little ways inland. And then we didn’t hear from her for almost two months.
She finally checked in on October 19th – and she was all the way back to Bella Coola. There’s not a information about where she was while she was off the grid, so to speak. The tracker shows her on Mitkof Island until September 22, and shows her in a remote area almost to Bella Coola on the 23rd. The lack of data may be a combination of there not being a lot of cell towers in that area, the fact that sometimes Canadian trackers don’t check in on US towers, and the fact that the days do get shorter, so there’s not as much sun to power the tracker.
The tracker appeared to stay in one spot until October 20, but I suspect that she was exploring the Huchsduwachsdu Nuyem Jees / Kitlope Heritage Conservancy and other wild areas nearby with lots of rivers but very few cell towers’ when she checked in on the 20th, she was getting close to Bella Coola – but didn’t stop this time, and continued southeast to Heydon Bay, arriving there on the 22nd. She moved a bit further down to Jackson Bay on the 24th, and the tracker suggests she stayed there for about a month (though I suspect she was exploring little inlets and rivers without much cell connection)
On November 24, she crossed over to Vancouver Island; the next tracker update was December 15th and it according to the tracker, she stayed in that same spot up the coast from Sayward from November 24 until December 14 – but I suspect she was exploring somewhere without cell towers; she did appear to be active in the area from December 14 – 18 so maybe she was there most of that time
On December 19 she was near Black Creek (about 100km/62mi from where she was); on the 20th, she was just south of Nanaimo (another 100km further down the coast), and stayed in that general area until January 22, 2021; on January 23 she made a day trip to the top of Galiano Island, returning to the area south of Nanaimo on the 24th; she stayed there through the 29th
Loki/BETA04 headed southeast on January 30, 2021, spending a few days going only a short distance, then flew about 44km/28mi to Salt Spring Island on January 4th; she appeared to do a bit of zigjagging, and reached the end of Vancouver Island (near Tower Point, west of Victoria) on the 6th; she followed the coast down to what looks to me to be the south end of the island, then turned west and flew over an inlet to what might be the tip of East Sooke Regional Park on the 7th and 8th
It looks as if she started on the 9th by continuing west into the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island’s west coast and the Olympic National Park in the Washington, but happily she changed her mind and backtracked to the peninsula nearest the Race Rocks Lighthouse (which she visited on the 7th), then headed across the Salish Sea, reaching Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula later that day. (Note – data points seem to be around 2 pm pacific time, so probably in the middle of her journey on travel days; sometimes she seems to check in more than once a day, but it seems to be the 2 pm data point I’m seeing when I click on a date; reminder – the time shown is local to you, so they show up as 5 pm for me in Maine – but we try to post about west coast eagles in Pacific time for consistency)
Loki explored the Peninsula until February 17, heading down past Humptulips and almost to Newton, then back up and out towards Clearwater near the coast (please do read through the forum thread to learn more about all the places she’s been)
On February 18 she flew about 77km/177km/110mi to near the Wilcox Farm (with many hen houses) and the Nisqually River, south of Roy, Washington; she mostly stayed in that area through March 5, making a leisurely excursion to Tenino (26km/16mi away) February 25 to March 2nd
Starting March 5, she went down to Toledo, then on to Skamokawa Valley on the 8th, across the Columbia River to Wauna, Oregon, on the 9th, then wandered up the Columbia River on the 10th and 11th. arriving near Bunker Hill, Washington, on the 12th
It looks as if she headed back towards Wauna then down towards Vesper, Oregon, arriving there on the 14th; she stayed there through the 16th, then headed back north across the Columbia to the area near Grays River. Washington, on the 17th, staying in Washington near the river until the 19th, when she headed south, flying about 60km/37mi to arrive a little below the town of Hamlet, Oregon, on the 20th; she then took a curving path north and east, possibly partly following the Nehalem River, and ending up near Grays River, Washington, on the 23rd.
She headed north, ending up a little south of Quinalt, Washington, on the 24th (112km/70mi); the then headed over towards Clearwater on the coast but turned north before she got there, and reached the Salish Sea near Sekiu on the north shore of the Olympic Peninsula on March 30th
It looks as if she continued straight across the water, arriving back in Canada near Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, then heading east across the lower end of Vancouver Island, and across to San Juan Island on April 3rd, then reversing direction and flying back to Vancouver Island, checking in partway between Victoria and Sidney on the 4th; she headed south again on the 5th, and when she checked in on the 6th, she was all the way back to Grays River, Washington, just above the Columbia River (120 miles or almost 200 kilometers).
Loki hatched the evening of April 6, 2020, so the above is what she accomplished before she was even one year old.

Summary of Travels – Year Two

April 6, 2021 – Loki is one year old!

She checked in from Grays River the afternoon of the 7th, then headed to Cape Disappointment at the southwest corner of Washington (Lynne says it’s a beautiful area, in spite of the name – more details here). She then headed south, and checked in from Rockaway Beach at 11 am pacific time on April 8th (the farthest south she’s been, as of January 2023); 3 hours later, she was about 30 km inland, I think in what may be part of the Tillamook State Forest, then headed north, crossing the Columbia east of Wauna and checking in at 8 pm from a remote area about 40km/25mi above the Washington/Oregon border – looks like a long day to me!
When she checked in at 1 pm on April 9th, she was halfway to the Wilcox Farm/Nisqually River area where she spent part of February; she stayed there with a couple of little excursions until April 26.
We didn’t get updates between April 26 and May 1st, but it looks as if she left the Wilxox Farm area and headed northwest at some point, checking in from Neah Bay at the northwest point of Washington at 1 pm on April 29
She continued across the water to the western shore of Vancouver Island, and checked in from Marktosis, about 62km/60mi from Neah Bay. at 5 pm on May 1st (Lynne noted that this is prime migration season, so there were likely lots of birds heading north to show her the way, which may be why she was comfortable taking a fairly long hop over open water)
Loki checked in again on May 4th, and appeared headed to the Nanaimo area on the other side of Vancouver Island; she stayed in that general area until May 11, then headed up the coast on the 12th; we hoped she might visit our French Creek eagle cam, but she turned off a bit south of that and went inland a bit before continuing up the island, ending up by Sayward on May 16; that’s the general area where Vancouver Island is closest to the mainland, so she may not even have noticed when she left Vancouver Island to hop from island to island – and looking at the map, I’m not actually sure when she was technically on the mainland and not on an island, but she was near Sullivan Bay on the 17th, and reached Bella Bella on the 20th. By the 24th, she was up to Port Edward, just below Prince Rupert, and it looks as if she stayed in that general area until June 1st.
When she checked in on June 2nd, she had crossed into Alaska, and was almost to Ketchikan. Looking back, it was mid July last year before she made it up to Alaska, and while her tracker didn’t show a lot of detail for her time there, it looks as if she stayed mostly on the mainland and nearest islands last year, while this year it looks as if she was almost entirely on the islands, getting as far north as Admiralty Island, and west as far as Kruzof Island. However – she only had one partial data upload between July 5 and November 12, and while some of the gaps were filled in once she was spending more time near cell towers, there is a lot we don’t know – the biggest gap is July 21 – September 15 when the tracker showed her in the same place on Prince of Wales Island for almost 2 months, shifting slightly from July 31 to August 1st. That makes me think she probably was in that area from July 21 until at least August 1st. On September 16, she was back on West Thurlow Island near Sayward, BC – with nothing but a straight line between those two points.
The next largest gap was September 16 – October 31st, when the dot showing her location stayed on West Thurlow Island without moving. The tracker showed some movement on the island from November 1 to November 19, so she may actually have been in that area for at least part of that time.
On November 20, she was near Morton Lake Provincial Park, further down Vancouver Island, and by the 21st she was further down Vancouver Island, inland about halfway between Campbell River and Oyster River; she stayed in that general area through November 30th.
By December 2nd she was south of Nanaimo, and reached Duncan December 15th; it looks as if she was there about 10 days, then went south a couple of miles to Fairbridge on the 26th; her dot stayed there through January 5, though she may have moved on sooner as there was another tracker gap.
On January 6, 2022, she had crossed into Washington state and was a bit north of Quinault, in the middle of the Olympic Peninsula; the tracker dot stayed in the same spot until the 16th, moved a bit on the 17th and 18th, then was moving again on the 27-31st; I’m pretty sure she was in that area on the days the tracker moved, but since she didn’t upload any data between December 16 and January 29, she may have made some side trips that weren’t recorded
When she checked in on February 1st she was in Queets, near the coast and just south of Clearwater, which she visited in February 2021. There was another gap, then she was back above Quinault on February 10-15, where there seem to be a number of streams that feed Lake Quinault; she started heading north on the 16th and was close to Port Angeles on the northern border of the peninsula on the 17th, She did not cross to BC, but instead went east, arriving near Port Hadlock-Irondale on the 18th, then heading south through Belfair. where she stayed on the 19th-21st, and then heading down to Waterford on the Columbia River on the 22nd.
She spent a couple of days on the Washington side of the river, then checked in from the Oregon side on the 27th, spending a few days between the river and Woodson, Oregon (looks like lots of little rivers and streams there); she was there through March 5, then on the 6th, she checked in from the Puget Sound area (about 200km/130mi from the Columbia River), and was there for several days.
On March 11 she checked in from Silvana, WA, and she was a little below Mt Vernon on the 14th; she was around Bellingham on the 15th and 16th, and on the 16th she crossed the border (perhaps flying over White Rock) before checking in from Delta, BC – not far from the landfill.
She made a trip out to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary on the west coast of the mainland of BC and the south shore of the Fraser River March 18-19, then flew east 60-70 km, arriving in area around Cuitus Lake and the Chilliwack River by 5 pm on the 19th; she then headed north to Port Douglas on the 21st, perhaps passing by Harrison Mills along the way, then down to Stave Falls, and further down to the Fraser River south of Mission, checking in from there at 1 pm on the 23rd. She was at the border a bit east of Sumas on the 24th, made a day trip down into Washington (perhaps a quick check of the North Fork Nooksack River), then north to the Fraser River above Glendale for a couple of days, then headed northeast, and checked in from a bit north of Aspen Grove at 11 am on the 29th – the farthest east she’s been so far (as of January 2023).
She apparently didn’t find anything interesting there – she was back a bit west of Harrison Mills and approaching the Fraser River on the 30th, near Mission on the 31st, west to White Rock on April 2nd, then back south of Mission on April 3rd (she sure can fly!). She stayed in that area for a couple of days, and was almost to the border with Washington when she checked in at 1 pm on April 6, 2022.

Summary of Travels – Year 3 (last updated January 24, 2023)

April 6, 2022 – Loki is two years old!

By 2 pm on April 6, Loki was near Custer, WA, and when she checked in on the 7th, she was south of Conway and near the Skagit River; she was further south by 1 pm on the 8th, and this is an area she’s visited before, so there are lots of lines; apparently there wasn’t as much of interest this time, since she was headed north near Anacortes at 1 pm on the 9th and crossed into Canada around 5 pm; she then headed west, flying over Vancouver around 5 pm on the 10th; by 2 pm on the 11th, she was near Gibsons, and by the 12th she was on Vancouver Island south of Nanaimo, an area she’s visited a couple of times before. She headed south for a couple of days and was a bit south of Duncan by 11 am on the 14th; she then turned towards the east, and was in Mt Vernon, Washington, by 5 pm.
She headed a bit south, then spent about a week in the Skagit River delta region south of Conway, before heading down near Stanwood, where she may have found a composting area frequented by lots of other birds; it looks as if she stayed in that general area through April 29, then was back in BC north of Abbotsford by 1 pm on the 30th. She stayed in that general area until May 4th, then flew over to Boundary Bay on the 5th, then headed north a bit then northwest to West Vancouver (across from Stanley Park) at 5 pm on the 6th, then checking in from near Greenwood in Washington state at 11 am on the 7th, and then back near Abbotsford, BC, by 5 pm that day. Busy eagle!
She stayed through Abbotsford until the morning of May 11, then flew west to the area near the landfill; she might have had breakfast there on the 12th, but was on the move again, heading out to Boundary Bay for dinner, then across to Crescent Beach on the 13th, passing near the White Rock nest as she headed South; when she checked in on the 14th, she had crossed the border and maybe 2/3 of the way to Stanwood, WA.
Loki stayed in the Stanwood area from May 15 – June 3rd, and was checking in regularly so we have a much better idea of where she spent her time (the composting operation was high on her list!); she was slightly north of the area the morning of June 4th – and by 5 pm that day, she was on or flying over Lopez Island, halfway across the strait from the coast above Stanwood to Vancouver Island,
By 11 am on June 5th, Loki was in BC, and by 5 pm, she was inland a bit and already north of Nanaimo; she continued up the island at a leisurely pace – Lynne noted that she visited several spots where there were other eagles with trackers so she’s definitely learning to find good places to hang out; she went all the way up to Port Hardy, checking in there at 1 pm on the 17th and exploring that area until the 23rd
She headed north and checked in from the mainland on the 24th and headed up the coast, arriving in Bella Bella on June 26th and exploring that area for a couple of days; she checked in from nearby Chatfield Island at 5 pm on June 29 – and didn’t check in again until November 6!
As often happens when a tracked eagle doesn’t check in for a while, there is stored data that gets uploaded once she’s back near cell towers, so we do know something about where she was during the four months between check-ins. Clicking through the calendar on the map, her dot stayed on Chatfield Island from June 29 through September 2nd, but I wouldn’t be all that surprised if she spent part of that time on remote islands off the Alaskan Panhandle, like she did last summer.
The tracker reported that she was near Sayward, on the northern part of Vancouver Island, on September 3rd; the map shows a straight line there from Chatfield Island, but it’s equally likely that she crossed over further up on Vancouver Island – one of those things we’ll never know (though we are learning so much!). The dot remained in that area until November 6, though it’s likely that she did not. There were several data points on November 6, so I’m quite sure she was in the area north of Sayward then, and I suspect she was there at least briefly on September 3rd. (I’m not an expert, but it seems to me that the tracker wouldn’t record the data point if she wasn’t there – and seems very likely that there were a lot of data points that weren’t recorded or else were lost if the charge ran down while she was spending a lot of time by a shady river or something.) She might have been anywhere between those two dates.
She didn’t check in again until December 23rd, and again did give us some history once that happened. Her dot stayed in the same place north of Sayward through November 28, and then jumped to Silvana WA (just inland from Stanwood) on November 29 (though she may have started south earlier and followed a more wandering path)
The dot stayed in the same point until December 11, then moved a bit west and stayed there until the 18th, then moved a couple of times; by the 22nd, she was at the edge of Port Susan, and she stayed in the general area near Stanwood through January 2, 2023 (though the tracker doesn’t show her going to the compost operation – they may be less active in winter).
She started heading slowly north on January 3, 2023, and was near Conway on the 5th; the tracker stayed in that area through the 12th, and then was a bit further west, heading towards Lake McMurray on the 13th, and exploring the area west and north of that through January 24.