TERF06 (tracked since 11/29/20)

HWF tracked bald eagle TERF06 was tagged and banded on November 29, 2020, at the Vancouver Landfill in Delta, BC. She appeared to be female and that was confirmed with a blood test; her USFW band number is 0709-01999 and she has a more readable blue band on her left leg with the characters K over 1. TERF06’s age at banding appeared to be about 8 months old, so she hatched in the spring of 2020.

We were initially very worried about TERF06 because we did not receive any data from her tracker for almost five months after she was released. And then, on April 24, 2021 – she checked in! It appears that she flew across the border to Washington State immediately after she was released, and stayed in Washington and (mostly) Oregon. There was a time when our trackers didn’t work with US cell towers (they are a different frequency than those in Canada), and now they do, so perhaps there was a software update or something. She crossed back into BC on June 9 and headed slowly north, crossing into Alaska on July 2nd; she stayed in the lower part of the Alaskan panhandle through October 25th, and then headed south, and by November 29, 2021, she was back in Washington State.

You can read more about her travels on our Hancock Wildlife Forum thread and we’d love to have you post your observations there.

Photo of HWF tracked bald eagle TERF06 by Olaf Kringhaug

Summary of Travels

(last updated March 6, 2023)

Received tracker November 29 2020 at the Vancouver Landfill in Delta, BC

Washington & Oregon (2020-2021)

After being tagged, TERF06 headed south into Washington state, and didn’t check in for almost 5 months (I’m still not sure what changed to allow our trackers to communicate with US cell towers, but I’m very happy that has happened as several of our tagged eagles are international travelers); fortunately when she finally checked in, she reported on her travels during that time.
Her first data point was 8:10 am on December 1st, 2020, from the shore of Skagit Bay, Washington, just south of La Conner
She headed down towards Mount Ranier, but then apparently changed her mind, and headed back towards Gold Bar, and explored the area near the Skykomish River from December 5 to January 13, 2021.
Then she headed south for six days, ending up in the Willamette National Forest by the 19th (about 435 km/270 mi).
[*She then headed a bit northwest towards Lancaster and Harrisburg, Oregon, and explored the area to the east of them from January 20 to April 8, 2021.
She then headed more or less north, crossing back into Washington around April 10, then over towards Cathlamet on the Columbia River, then south to the Tillamook State Forest in Oregon for a day on April 14, then north to Kachess Lake, Washington, on the 17th, and down near Tallman, Oregon, on the 20th (the distance from Kachess Lake to Tallman is around 330 km/205 miles).
TERF06 headed back down to the area east of Harrisburg on April 26, did a bit of exploring, then back near Crabtree and Tallman through May 6.
On May 7 she was back near the Columbia River (border between Washington and Oregon) near Cook, Washington, and did some exploring in Washington for about 10 days, going as far north as Tacoma once.
She spent about a week near Lake Lawrence, Washington, then a few days near Riffe Lake.
On May 30th, she checked in from Bumping Lake, then was back near Cook, Washington, and the Columbia River on June 1st. On June 3rd, she was over near Scappoose, Oregon, a bit northwest of Portland.
By June 5th, she was near the Tilton River and spent 4-5 days there, before heading south to Riffe Lake for a few days.
She was east of Seattle by June 13th, then headed northeast, then northwest, crossing into British Columbia a ways east from Harrison Mills on June 19th.

British Columbia (2021)

She headed east, arriving in Abbotsford on June 21st and stayed there through the 26th – and then she headed north up the coast.

Alaska (2021)

By the afternoon of July 2nd, TERF06 had crossed the border to the Alaskan Panhandle; she stayed on the coast an near the border through July 14.
She went a bit further up the Panhandle, then over to Annette Island from July 17 – August 2.
She went a bit further up the Panhandle after that, and then was on what looks like a point of the mainland west of Revillagigedo Island from August 5 – October 23, mostly focused on Black Bear Creek on the west shore.
She was back to Revillagigedo Island on the 24th, and had crossed back into BC by October 25th.

British Columbia (2021)

She headed back down the coast, stopping southeast of Kingcome for almost a month, from November 3-29.

Washington & Oregon (2021-2022)

She continued down the coast, crossing into Washington on December 4th, pausing in a few spots, and ending up near Day Creek on the Skagit River December 9 – 19
She made a loop southward following the Sauk River, ending up near Darrington, Washington, from December 24 to January 6, 2022.
After that, she made her way south arriving at the Columbia River near Scappoose, Oregon, by January 15th.
She stayed there a few days, then continued south, arriving near Crabtree on the 23rd and staying in that general area between there and Lebanon until February 3rd, when she headed a bit further south to the area east of Harrison where she’d been the previous year; she stayed there through the 17th, then headed north to the area around Crabtree, where she stayed from February 21 – 25.
She continued north, reaching the Columbia River near Carson, Washington, on February 27th and stayed in that area through March 3rd.
After that, TERF06 went north past Northwoods, then southeast past Appleton, then back to the Columbia River a bit east of Carson; she stayed there from March 7 – 22.
From March 23 – 30, she did some exploring near Packwood and Goose Prairie, southeast of Mount Ranier, then headed back to the Columbia River for a couple of days before heading back toward Goose Prairie, then south again towards Glenwood, where she stayed from April 5 to May 10.
Back to the Columbia River from May 12 – 16, then back to Glenwood May 17 – 21, then west to Riffe Lake May 21 to June 2, north to Lake Lawrence on June 3 to 7, back to Riffe Lake on June 8, then southwest to Headquarters for a few days.
Back nearer Riffe Lake on the 14th and 15th, then up to Lake Lawrence on the 16th, and up to the general area near Gardiner and Dungeness at the northern part of Washington near Port Townsend; she stayed there until the 22nd, then flew across whatever the water is from there to Bellingham, reaching the border into Canada on June 24th.

British Columbia (2022)

She visited the landfill in Delta on the 25th and 27th, with a day trip down to Point Roberts in the middle, then headed north, passing inland from Powell River on the 28th, and reaching a point near Smith Inlet on July 1st. TERF06 spent a week there, then continued north past Bella Bella, reaching the border to the Alaskan Panhandle on July 11th.

Alaska (2022)

TERF06 spent a couple of days near the border before continuing north to the point west of Revillagigedo Island where she spent time last August. She revisited some of the same places in that general area as last year, and also spent August 5 – September 10 near a little bay across from Deer Island, a bit further north than last year. September 11 – October 8 she was back at the Black Bear Creek area that was a focus for the in 2021.
She began heading slowly south on October 9, pausing a few days at a different point on Annette Island, crossing into BC on the 20th or 21st.

British Columbia (2022)

She passed near Campbell River on November 1st, and spent a couple of days near the Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park before continuing south on the 8th. She passed over Abbotsford and crossed into Washington State on November 9th.

Washington & Oregon (2022-2023)

She was down near the Skykomish River near Gold Bar by the 14th and stayed in that general area until the 24th, then explored some new territory a bit further east through December 21st. She made her way south for the next week, arriving at the Columbia River near Carson on the 29th, and spending time mostly along the river through January 23, 2023.
She spent a day or two in Glenwood, then was back along the river until February 18.
She did a bit of meandering, arriving at Riffe Lake on February 22, then back to the Columbia River on the 24th (spending time near the Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery), which is where she is as of March 6, 2023.