TERF04 (tracked 2/18/18 – 6/26/19) - Hancock Wildlife Foundation

TERF04 (tracked 2/18/18 – 6/26/19)

HWF tracked bald eagle TERF04 is an adult male captured on 18 February 2018 at Vancouver Landfill in Delta, about 20km east of Vancouver as the eagle flies. He was banded by Myles Lamont and is sporting a yellow band with black letters A over 1. Keep an eye out for him!

Please visit our Hancock Wildlife Forum thread for more information about the areas TERF04 visited during his travels.

Update: We tracked TERF04 through two trips to Alaska, and based on his pattern, I suspect he did not have a nest, though he appeared to be a healthy adult male; He seemed to be doing fine the last time he checked in, so perhaps some day we’ll see him again. There’s a summary of his travels further down on this page.

Summary of Travels (last updated February 8, 2023)

Received tracker February 18 2018 at the Vancouver Landfill in Delta, BC
By February 20th, he was in what appears to be a wooded area in the southeast part of Chilliwack, and stayed in that area through March 11
He was heading up the coast on March 12, and was near Bella Bella on the 13th where he appeared to rest for a day before flying to Prince Rupert on the 15th, just south of the border to the Alaskan Panhandle
He stayed near Prince Rupert through the 21st, then continued into Alaska, across Prince of Wales Island, and on to Baranof Island on March 22nd. He stayed there, generally in the area around Sitka Sound and the nearby coast through April 27
He began heading south on April 28, crossing the border and checking in from Prince Rupert on May 1st; he stayed in that area through May 6
TERF04 then headed back up the coast, checking in from Kosciusko Island, AK, on the 9th, spending a few days in nearby Edna Bay, then moving over to Noyes Island from May 15 to May 26
On May 27, he was on Warren Island, not far from Edna Bay; after that he appeared to spend some quality time in the middle of the ocean, but by zooming way in, I was able to see that he was visiting a couple of tiny islands in the Hazy Islands National Wildlife Refuge; he was there until June 5th, then checked in from nearby Coronation Island on June 6, and was headed back towards Sitka Sound on June 7
He stayed in that general area through July 1st, mostly south of the Sound on Baranof Island, then on July 2nd, he checked in from Port Alexander which appears to be at the southern tip of the island; there are lots of data points there, even though I think he was only there the afternoon of the 1st through the morning of the 2nd – but the days are long (a quick search suggests at least 16 hours)
At 9:30 am on July 2nd, he was flying back towards the Hazy Islands, where he stayed until the 28th, with a brief visit to Coronation Island in the middle
On the 29th, he was on Kulu Island, and by the 30th, he was back on Baranof Island north of Port Alexander; he explored a bit of the eastern side of the island (Sitka Sound is on the west side) and the south part of nearby Admiralty Island, getting back to more familiar territory on August 23rd (note: we have no idea where he has traveled in previous years, so this may be a common place for him in August – just not an area he visited since we’ve been following him); he stayed near an inlet south and east of the Sitka Sound area through September 1st, then moved back to the west shore closer to the Sound
He stayed there through September 29, then moved inland a bit (along an inlet) through October 8, then a couple of other inlets through the 18th, then back nearer the Sound through October 29th
By November 1st, he appeared to be slowly heading south; on November 7th he checked in from Prince of Wales Island, and he was at the southern end of the Panhandle on November 11
He reached Hartley Bay on the 13th, Bella Bella on the 17th, and reached Squamish/Brackendale on November 30th; it seemed like a leisurely trip, pausing for a day or two here and there along the way
TERF04 spent a month there, exploring the Squamish River, a number of what appear to be forested areas – and, not surprisingly, the Squamish Landfill
When he checked in on January 1, 2019, he was in Stave Falls, a bit north of Mission; by the 2nd, he was back in Chilliwack, and stayed there until March 9 except for one very quick trip across the Fraser River on January 6-7.
He was headed east when he checked in on March 10, and spent a couple of days in Delta, almost certainly checking out the landfill, before heading up the coast on March 14; it looks as if he was taking it easy but moving every day; by the 19th he was just south of Prince Rupert and the border with the Panhandle
He stayed near Prince Rupert through the 28th, then started up the Panhandle, reaching the area around Sitka Sound on March 31st; he stayed in familiar territory there through April 14
On April 15th he started moving up the coast and spent a few days along the Alsek River, then continued on to a river or inlet about 20 km below Yakutat, which he explored from April 27 to May 1st, before arriving back at Sitka Sound on May 12
He stayed at the Sound until the 24th, then down near Coronation Island and nearby islands through June 2nd, back to Baranof Island through the 11th (mostly near the Sound), then over to neighboring Kruzof Island (on the northwest side of the Sound) on the 12th
TERF04 spent a week or so at the St Lazaria National Wildlife Refuge (a little island off the south end of Kruzof) from June 15 to 21, then back to Kruzof for a couple of days, on the little island on the 25th, then further up on Kruzof on the morning of the 26th
His final update was at 2 pm on June 26, 2019, from the southern part of Kruzof Island, AK. There was no indication that he or his tracker were having any problems, but something stopped working. I’ll hope it was the tracker.