TERF09 (tracked 1/15/21-6/30/21)

TERF09 is a mature male eagle that was tracked by HWF. He arrived at OWL – the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Delta BC – on November 9, 2020, with injuries to his legs and wings from fighting. He required medical attention and time to heal, and was released around January 15, 2021 – his tracking data started posting on January 18, 2021. His USFW band number is 1098-03191 and he has a more readable blue band on his left leg with the characters H over 6.

Unfortunately we only received updates from him for about 5-1/2 months, but he was doing well the last we knew, so we hope he’s still out there somewhere. Please visit our Hancock Wildlife Forum thread for more information about what TERF09 was doing during that time.

Photos of TERF09 at OWL by Myles Lamont.

Summary of Travels

TERF09 received his tracker at OWL (the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Delta BC) – on January 15, 2021; he arrived there November 9, 2020, with injuries to his legs and wings from fighting.
For the next 5 months, he mostly stayed in the Delta/Surrey area, making brief trips in various directions, but not going much further than 40 km/25 mi from the Delta Landfill
He started heading up the coast on the afternoon of June 21st, passing by Squamish a few hours later.
He made good time, arriving near Bella Coola around 8 pm on June 23rd; Bella Coola is about 450 km/280 mi up the coast from Delta.
TERF09 spent the next week along the Bella Coola River, between the town itself and Firvale, 30 km to the east.
His final data upload was 8 pm on June 30th, a bit west of Bella Coola, near the edge of the North Bentinck Arm (an inlet from the ocean that connects with the Bella Coola River). He was a full adult and had been flying reasonable distances and checked in a couple of times earlier that day – so it seems likely that his tracker failed and he may still be happily flying around. But we’ll never know for sure unless someone sees an eagle with a blue band with silver letters H over 6.