Tracking BACA03

[JudyB]

Opening this topic for reports on BACA03's activities.

We don't know much about this eagle yet, except that he or she was tagged in December 2018, probably near the Vancouver Landfill in Delta, BC - the full report will be here when David Hancock has a chance to write it - https://hancockwildlife.org/our-project ... ge/baca03/

Added August 2020 - we still don't have the official bio for BACA03 posted, but I've learned from David Hancock that he is male, and was banded by OWL as a fledgling, and I believe he hatched in 2013. Observers report that he and his mate raised 2 chicks in 2020.

[JudyB]

February 12, 2019
Here are a few views of BACA03's travels since s/he was tagged. The first picture is from the interactive map on our website (link in previous post), and the second is from the Animal Tracker app I have on my iPhone.

The place on the left where s/he visits is the landfill; and perhaps there's a nest in the area on the right. I'm not actually from BC, but I'm pretty sure that the eagle's primary activity is in Surrey; White Rock doesn't extend that far inland, and is surrounded on three sides by Surrey.

And this is a closer look at the area where the eagle has been spending most of his/her time.

[JudyB]

These three images show the eagle's activity in the last two weeks (an option in Animal Tracker); the first one shows the activity except for one trip to the landfill - so the eagle seems to be concentrating on this area, and finding enough food here that he or she doesn't need to go to the landfill.

This is a closer look at the area where the eagle seems to be most active.

And this is the same map showing what the area is like, rather than the location.

[JudyB]

I've learned a bit more about BACA03 from David Hancock - he is a 6-year-old male who was banded by OWL as a fledgling, and this may be his first nesting season. (I think that means he hatched in 2013). I'm hoping to get more details soon - but from the tracking information, it looks to me as if he nested in Surrey and did a lot of his "shopping" at the Delta landfill:

Around August 19, BACA03 headed North - and disappeared from the map. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of the map when that happened - and fortunately, we now know where he's been!

I think his path ended at the turn just below the S in Surrey, and I'm sure he went by some cell towers after that, but I'm guessing by the time of his next upload, he was in a valley in a fairly remote area north of Squamish. Here's the area along the Squamish River where he spent his month's vacation; I switched to satellite view to show that there were lots of trees and mountains around.

continued in next post....

[JudyB]

Continuing BACA03's summer travels....

As of September 20, BACA03 was headed South again (the red dot is where he was when the tracker recorded his position for the day)

And he's now back in his territory - earlier than most, though that could be because he's young.

[JudyB]

It looks as if BACA03 was just taking a quick break from the salmon to check on his nest - when he checked in yesterday (September 22), he was heading north again:

[JudyB]

October 1, 2019

Here's BACA03's travels for the last two weeks (starting around September 17):

And a closer look at where he's been since September 29 - I think he's home!

Added August 27, 2020 by JudyB - As I started trying to compare BACA03's travels last summer with his activities this summer, I realized I wanted more information about where he spent the second part of his vacation. This map includes lines from 2020 because I can't easily avoid that, and shows that he was at the end of an inlet called Indian Arm, where it joins a river known as Indian River, and spent his time by the river (which probably had salmon running). It's the knot of red lines at the top of the picture, above the name Wigwam Inn.

It looks to me as if it's about halfway to the area along the Squamish River where he spent the first half of his vacation.

[JudyB]

November 4, 2019

BACA04 has been spending a lot of time near his nest, but has also been doing some exploring in the past 2 weeks:

(Note - I don't know where exactly his nest is, other than somewhere in greater Surrey, BC)

[JudyB]

January 14, 2020

Just wanted to mention that BACA03 is still doing great, and hanging out in his territory in Surrey, probably doing the same sort of work on his nest that we're seeing from the Surrey Reserve, Delta 2, White Rock and Harrison Mills pairs.

His activity looks like quite the tangled maze!

[JudyB]

Here's a screenshot from the Animal Tracker app on my cell phone showing BACA03's movements in the last two weeks - easier to see where he's been than on the bigger map.

[JudyB]

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Not exactly relevant to BACA03's travels - but his nest is one of the many nests David Hancock and other local observers track, and this year he and his mate successfully raised two eaglets.

Last year, BACA03 headed north on August 19, 2019, and spent about a month in a valley north of Squamish, along the Squamish River; he was back in his home territory on September 21st (details in previous posts on this thread). But he didn't stay long - he headed north again; it looks as if he only went half as far that time, to the end of an inlet called Indian Arm, where he wandered around the Indian River which enters it there. He explored that area for about a week (probably getting more salmon) before ending up back in his territory on September 29.

So - let's see what he's been doing this year!

This is an overview of his travels in the last two weeks from the Animal Tracker app - I'm starting with that since it lets me show just the last two weeks.

It looks as if he headed North on August 19 - just like last year! And his first stop was near Upper Squamish, where he spent quite a bit of time last year along the Squamish River. The red dot shows his current location at the date highlighted on the map - in this case, the 19th.

But perhaps the salmon weren't running there yet - because he headed further North the next day (how do eagles know these things??). You can see the red dot across from a place called Malibu.

And I need to take a break now - will continue with his journey later.

[JudyB]

Continuing with BACA03's travels....

The body of water BACA03 was exploring is apparently called Jervis Inlet. Because he was moving around, I'll include a series of pictures.

August 21 - at the tip of the inlet

August 22 - near Malibu

August 23 - BACA03's furthest point North since getting the tracker (though I suspect he traveled more before settling down)

[JudyB]

Continuing....

August 24 - back to Malibu (maybe there's a good sushi bar there?)

And here's a closer look at Malibu in Satellite view - and it looks to me as if BACA03 would have had to catch his own sushi!

August 25 - back towards Upper Squamish

That seems to be an area where there's not a lot of cell towers, so it's not surprising that it's now August 28 and we haven't seen any additional data uploaded.

Have a good vacation, BACA03 - and may you catch lots of fish!

[JudyB]

Friday, September 4, 2020

BACA03 is now back in his home territory!

He spent August 26-29 above Upper Squamish, sort of across from Cloudburst Mountain.

Then he moved down to the area above Iron Bay for a couple of days.

He was there until some time on the first, and was back in his home territory on September 2nd, where he is when he checked in today.

Note that Mt. Garibaldi appears in all three maps - they are different scales, but that may help you moved from one to another - or go to his map - https://hancockwildlife.org/our-project ... ge/baca03/ - and click on the calendar icon at the top center to open the calendar, and click from day to day to follow his travels.

[JudyB]

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

BACA03 remained in his territory through September 5th then headed north on the 6th:

He reached the area above Squamish on the 7th, and is there again for today's upload:

A closer look.

[JudyB]

Monday, September 28, 2020

BACA03 is back home in Surrey!

When we last checked in on him, he was heading North from Squamish on September 8, and it looks as if he spent much of the time quite a ways up the river - here are pictures from September 13 and September 23. The second one has terrain turned on so you can see he was in a fairly deep valley - which is probably why he didn't check in until a day or two ago.

When he checked in on the 24th, he was a little north of Squamish - and judging from the red lines, a place he'd visited before.

[JudyB]

Continuing....

He was in that area on the 25th, and a bit south of Squamish on the 26th (you can follow his path like I'm doing at https://hancockwildlife.org/our-project ... ge/baca03/ - just click the little calendar icon at the top of the page, and click a day to see where he was then).

By the 27th, he was in the Surrey area:

And while it's not easy to see his little red dot on top of all the lines tracking his travels over the last couple of years - he is definitely back in his home territory!

[Marg]

Wow, JudyB he was a busy eagle.