Tracking TERF26/Annie

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JudyB
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by JudyB » Thu Jun 01, 2023 8:31 am

Thanks for the reports, NSEN - it does make sense that Annie is now less focused on protecting tiny chicks and spending more time getting food for her large, always-hungry big chick(s)!
NSEN wrote:
Thu May 25, 2023 7:20 pm
May 22nd Annie flew all the way out the Vancouver Landfill again today. At 5 am she was at the nest. At 11am at the dump. And by 5 am the next day she was back at the nest site. Of course she could have been back home by 11:30! We only know where they are at the time the back pack call in its location! The first time she flew to the Transfer Station (aka the dump) was April 1st. It looks far away but probably nothing if she hit the thermals right.
The first photo her usual flight pattern back and forth to Grebe Islets and more recently just around the neighbourhood. In fact since she has had chicks she has not been out to Grebe Islets. Sam must be doing most of the hunting up to now.
Second screen shot show both trips out to the dump although it looks like only one.
A trick I just learned recently - it doesn't work on our tracking maps, even though they are based on google maps, but if you open a basic google map of the greater Vancouver area and right click on the nest, you can then choose "measure distance" from the list of options that opens up - and doing that, I discovered that it's about 33km/20mi from the nest to the landfill:
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Definitely not a long flight for an eagle - and she doesn't have to stop for traffic lights!

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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:38 am

Annie has had quite the time of it this past week! On June 18th afternoon, another intruding female (we presume) came into Annie's turf got into a fight with Annie, who ended up at OWL, again! OWL used the word 'grim' of Annie's condition when she arrived but perked up after a feeding. June 21st Annie was released at noon at her nest site, the same place she was released last year with her new tracker. JW watched her for about 30mins as Annie sat on a branch before she flew off. Annie's tracker showed her in New West at 11am, probably in the car on route to West Van, but then sadly at 5pm at Tilbury Island on the South Arm of the Fraser River and the next day at the Vancouver Landfill. The tracker never caught her in West Van. Why was she at the landfill? Did the intruding female win the battle? Did Annie lose her territory, eaglets and mate? We, the monitors 5 of us, were heartbroken. 4 days later, June 25th, the tracker showed Annie back in her territory and we have been hopeful ever since as she continues to stay in the territory and by the looks of it visit the nest with her remaining one eaglet!

Part 2- one of Annie's eaglets also ended up at OWL. The monitors heard a commotion and the eaglet was found on the ground underneath the nest, see photo, the evening of the same day (June 21st) Annie was released back home but remember she did not stay. Further updates from OWL on both Annie and her eaglet's condition was that they were both a little underweight but also showing signs of lead poisoning:( Where did they get the lead from? No hunting allowed in this area! A possible source could be fishing gear ingested by fish, then eaten by Annie and shared with the eaglet? The eaglet will stay at OWL until his flight feathers are hard pinned until his (its a male) release back at the nest site. Approx in 2 weeks.
The remaining eaglet in the nest has been branching and every time I visit I can hear it from a few streets away calling! Annie's mate must be pleased to have her back to help feed this hungry eaglet.
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Thu Jun 29, 2023 8:03 am

June 29th Annie's track these last two weeks. She was on Western Grebe Islet this morning, her usual perch, a good sign:) The lowest point of the track beside the mauve colour is when she was at OWL. Second lowest point is the Vancouver Land Fill.
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Thu Jun 29, 2023 8:08 am

June 28th Annie's eaglet looking curious! Photo credit K.McCormick.
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Thu Jul 06, 2023 8:02 am

Annie's eaglet fledged yesterday, July 5th! K.McCormick saw it leave the nest tree and crash land in an Douglas-fir. I arrived to hear it calling and the calling never stopped for the next hour. Saw it fly to another Douglas-fir and found it on a nice bare branch. Annie followed it and landed on top of the tree while dad was below it so they were all three in the same tree as though mum and dad were offering support and encouragement. So good to see Annie, confirmed by a visual of the tracker. The eaglet was bigger than dad so must be a female. The eaglet that ended up at OWL is a male which helps to explain the size difference seen while they were still both in the nest. Eaglets first flight.
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Thu Jul 06, 2023 8:05 am

More photos from July 5th. Photo credits K.McCormick. Dad and junior. Annie with funny marking on chest. Or is it whitish chest feathers. Have asked David H. Dad in funny pose!
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by Lynne » Thu Jul 06, 2023 9:33 pm

Congratulations on fledge! :thumlft: Beautiful eagle family - always impressive how parents watch over their young.
Thanks for sharing - great photos :D

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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by JudyB » Mon Jul 17, 2023 6:15 pm

July 17, 2023

I am posting this on the pages for both Harbour Sun and Annie, so there is some duplication.

TERF31/Harbour Sun has now been added to the combined map showing the paths for all the eagles with trackers who are currently active (or have been within the past year or less) - so we can now easily compare her territory and local travels with those of neighboring eagle TERF26/Annie. We've been following Annie (who has the grayish blue lines) for almost a year, and have only been tracking Harbour Sun (with the slightly pinkish light orange) for about a month.

This shows their general location along the shoreline of West Vancouver, above Lighthouse Park; all three click bigger.

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This is zoomed in a bit more showing that they seem aware of the invisible line between their territories, and generally respect it.

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This is the same map as above in satellite view, showing the terrain a bit and possibly making some of the flight paths easier to see.

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The link for the combined map is https://hancockwildlife.org/beta-bald-e ... -alliance/; we are currently tracking 21 eagles, so you'll see other lines on the maps above.

The link for TERF26/Annie's individual map is https://hancockwildlife.org/our-project ... ge/terf26/; if you zoom in you'll see that she spends a lot of time in the non-nesting season on a few small islands off the shore. Annie's forum page is viewtopic.php?f=95&t=636

The link for TERF31/Harbour Sun's individual map is https://hancockwildlife.org/our-project ... ge/terf31/; we don't know yet where she goes when she doesn't have chicks in the nest. Harbour Sun's forum page is viewtopic.php?f=95&t=697

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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Sat Aug 12, 2023 5:59 am

August 9th 7-9pm. Photos show view of Grebe Islets to the west, south across Georgia Strait to Vancouver Island and down the coast towards Lighthouse Park. I went here to look for Annie and mate. The male flew over to the islets and circled several times (he was definitely hunting). I had a clear view of his back and saw there was no tracker. It was a beautiful evening.
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Mon Aug 21, 2023 3:25 pm

August 12th this morning several of us neighbours and friends gathered to watch the release of Annie’s eaglet that went to OWL after it fell out of the nest at around 8 weeks old. We were all early not wanting to miss the release and while waiting we first saw Sam arrive with a small twig in his talons, perch, then circle around several times before entering nest. Then saw Annie with bigger, 3ft long, Douglas fir branch with green needles on it, perch, then circle around and into nest. We were so pleased that both of them were going to be around to witness the return of their chick to the nesting area.
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Angela, volunteer driver for OWL, arrived at appointed time of 10:20am. We chatted about best place to release the eaglet and decided to do it in same place Annie has been released twice before down the long driveway. 10:30 cage door opened. We were quiet but so was eaglet! It didn’t want to come out. After several mins it burst out but instead of flying down the driveway it did a sharp right and into a group of Douglas-firs landing on a branch in a small tree managing to hide itself quite well from us. It proceeded to sit there, quietly and very still. Annie, mum, was perched on tall Doug-fir nearby and was looking down at eaglet but also quiet. Eventually Annie called, eaglet seemingly replied, dad called out but that was it for any conversation! Dad got bored and left the immediate area. Around 12pm Annie left her tree top perch and we didn’t see her again. We all left around 12:30pm with eaglet still on same branch having only called out the once. It had moved its wings several times, shifted position on the branch, started to look around and at one point looked like it was trying to get the tracker off its back so we were confident it was ok just needed more time to orientate itself.

At home I checked Annie’s tracker page and at 11 am it showed Annie perching where we saw her but, wow, by 5pm she was up north, east of Campbell River and east Rodonda Island. So, when we saw her take off sometime after noon she was heading up north. She witnessed her eaglet return had a quick conversation then took off on her northern migration!
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Tue Aug 22, 2023 1:11 pm

August 22nd. Annie has not checked in since August 16th when she arrived at Knight Inlet. Interestingly Harbour Sun TERF31 has also not checked in since she arrived very close to Annie on slopes above Knight Inlet on the 19th. Possibly they have both since flown into an area where there is no cel service to receive the backpack trackers phone calls to download the tracking data. Fingers crossed this is the reason we have not heard from either of them!
Annie's line in blue with Harbour Sun's in orange. The latter half of journey running pretty much parallel to each other.
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Wed Nov 22, 2023 7:53 am

We had to wait until Oct 22nd before Annie's tracker checked in showing that she had returned home on Oct 17th. Her mate, Sam, returned home Sept 26th as we witnessed from ground observations. It is always exciting and a relief when we see the eagles return home! The local monitor has seen two eagles on the 17th but it took a few days before confirmation of a visual on the backpack but we can tell by the behaviour that it was the pair together and not a stranger.

So Annie did not go as far north as last year. She arrived at the Khutzeymateen Grizzly bear Park and Conservancy just north of Prince Rupert on the BC coast on Sept 2nd and really interestingly her offspring Bee, who received a tracker while in care at OWL, arrived two days later. Annie left the Khutzeymateen Oct 5th. Oct 11th she was at the Bay of Plenty on Princess Royal Island and from there it took her 6 days to get home. Bee left the Khutz Oct 17th. We know there would be many eagles in the Khutz with the salmon river runs. The big question is did Bee know his mum was there? They did not fly north together, taking different routes and arriving on different days so the general consensus is that it was purely coincidental they ended up spending a month in the same area.
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Wed Nov 22, 2023 8:02 am

I call Annie a real home-body compared to her neighbour Harbour Sun, who also sports a backpack tracker.

It has been really interesting to compare the tracks of the two of them and wonder why when they share, yet don't go into each others territory, the same ocean waters and coastline, does Harbour Sun leave to feast on the salmon of Indian River while Annie stays close to home to hunt sea birds like surf scoters which are here in the hundreds these days?

Since coming home from migration Harbour Sun has been out to Indian River, at the head of Indian Arm which is not far away as an eagle flies, twice and stayed 10 days or so. Annie has stuck to her territory at usual perches - until Monday!

Nov 20th at 4pm the tracker picks her up on the banks of the Capilano River only meters away from Bee (TERF27a) who is her offspring. Orange line is Annie, blue line is Bee’s. Bee flew to Capilano River from Sechelt Nov 19th and as of yesterday morning is still there.

Coincidence?
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by NSEN » Wed Nov 22, 2023 9:07 am

Screen shots of Annie TERF26 and Harbour Sun's TERF31 tracks over the last two weeks to show how Annie was sticking close to home until she flew out to the Capilano River to see Bee? This screen shot include any tracked eagles so I have highlighted Annie and Harbour Sun's alternatively in orange.
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Re: Tracking TERF26/Annie

Post by JudyB » Wed Nov 22, 2023 9:35 am

NSEN wrote:
Wed Nov 22, 2023 8:02 am
I call Annie a real home-body compared to her neighbour Harbour Sun, who also sports a backpack tracker.

It has been really interesting to compare the tracks of the two of them and wonder why when they share, yet don't go into each others territory, the same ocean waters and coastline, does Harbour Sun leave to feast on the salmon of Indian River while Annie stays close to home to hunt sea birds like surf scoters which are here in the hundreds these days?

Since coming home from migration Harbour Sun has been out to Indian River, at the head of Indian Arm which is not far away as an eagle flies, twice and stayed 10 days or so. Annie has stuck to her territory at usual perches - until Monday!

Nov 20th at 4pm the tracker picks her up on the banks of the Capilano River only meters away from Bee (TERF27a) who is her offspring. Orange line is Annie, blue line is Bee’s. Bee flew to Capilano River from Sechelt Nov 19th and as of yesterday morning is still there.

Coincidence?
Wow - very interesting! Thanks so much for posting this! That doesn't seem like a place Bee went before heading north, so it's unlikely that he followed Annie or her mate out there earlier this year - and most of the young eagles we've followed haven't gone back to their home territory, at least in the first year or so. It may just be a marvelous coincidence! :love:

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