Tracking TERF31/Harbour Sun

[JudyB]

Link to TERF31's Tracking Map

in progress

We are still waiting for some additional information about TERF31/Harbour Sun so I'll post what I have so far, and plan to add the rest when it becomes available.

BAEA23-07 - TERF31
Banding Date: June 15, 2023
USFW Band #: 0829-01873
ID: Blue marker X over 6 on its left leg
Age: adult
Eye color: light yellow
Sex: female
Weight: just over 13 pounds (David Hancock said she was the largest eagle he'd ever held)

Many thanks to John Welson and Hong Lin for their generous donation for Harbour Sun's tracker

Harbour Sun and her mate Eagle Eye have a nest in West Vancouver, right next to the territory of TERF26/Annie. There's anecdotal evidence that eagles have been in the area since at least 1999, and the nest has been monitored since 2009. The nest is on private property so we aren't sharing a lot of details, but we do know that the pair nested on a hillside back from the water from 2009 through 2022, and moved to a new location nearer shore this year.

Notable Dates for the 2022-2023 Nesting Season

in progress

A few pictures....

[JudyB]

Reserved

[JudyB]

Reserved

[NSEN]

Harbour Sun has had her tracker on for just under two weeks now and it is so fascinating to see how she explores her territory and that she does not go into Annie's TERF26 territory, nor Annie into hers. There is lots to say about Harbour Sun's catch and release but I am going to start with some observations from yesterday from the on the ground monitors - MH who has been monitoring this eagle pair for many years and can see the old nest from her house but not this new one. JW/HL who donated the funds to pay for the tracker and can see the new waterfront nest from the south and PG who lives on the property that own's the Douglas-fir tree that holds the new nest built sometime before this breeding season.

June 28th "Lots of stretching of feathers, preening and ‘chirping’ for parental attention. Jimmy Jr is growing steadily." MH//
"We are seeing much the same from our perspective. Eaglet is growing and active in the nest. What we are seeing that is different is the adult pair are together quite a bit. This has not been the case in recent months. They are perching together in front of our deck. They are talkative, chirping to each other, I am guessing. They stay for a while and then fly off together. Is this because the eaglet is now getting ready to be independent? So far all good, and the tracker is working like a dream. Too bad we didn’t capture the male as well." JW//
"Big wildlife show this morning! I saw Harbour Sun grab a duck and swim to shore with it, using her wings like oars. She was slowing down by the time she got to shore, and the poor duck was still alive when she dragged it onto the rocks and plucked it’s feathers until it finally died, then had a feast. After 30 mins or so dad came down to eat, and he flew right past my living room window with the bloody carcass and took it up to the nest. Junior is noticeably bigger this week, I mis-took him for dad yesterday when he is sitting so tall in the nest now." PG//

Photos taken last week on June 22nd by S.Santana when Jimmy Jr was approx 9 weeks old. He is now 10 weeks old.

[JudyB]

Great pictures - thanks, NSEN! I've added the link to Harbour Sun's map to the first post, and with a bit of luck will get the other information about her and her mate posted in the next day or two - lots going on right now, so I'm afraid I'm a bit overwhelmed.

[JudyB]

Notable Dates 2022-2023 Season:

Eggs laid: March 21st, with expected hatch April 25th

Eggs hatched: Feeding seen on April 26; 2 chicks seen April 27; link to ECeaglevideo’s April 29 video of the chicks (warning - they were in the rivalry stage, so one was attacking the other one part of the time; that is normal behavior and while it may be unsettling to see, they're not strong enough to hurt each other, and the rivalry usually tapers off once they decide which one is the boss of the nest)

Sad News: Only one chick was seen on May 16, and both adults were sounding and acting very distressed; the chicks were around 18 days old at the time

Mom Harbour Sun gets tracker: June 16

First branched:

Fledged:

Eaglets last seen:

Adults last seen:


Two pictures from the April 29 video, courtesy of ECeaglevideo:

[JudyB]

Here's a map of TERF31's travels since she got her tracker on June 16.

Since I don't know the area, I was thinking she was flying quite a ways for an adult with a chick on the nest - but I did a bit of research and discovered that the more distant points are only about 3-1/2 kilometers, or 2 miles, from the general area of the nest. (The initial line coming up was either the tracker being turned on for testing or she may have been released there after getting the tracker - either way, it's not part of her regular routine.)

I think the eaglet should be close to 11 weeks old, so could be branching any day now if he or she isn't already doing that - exciting times!

Added -
I've learned that she was released near her nest, so that initial line is not somewhere she flew.

[NSEN]

I have attached a close up map of Harbour Sun's track when she is up the mountain slopes so that you can see how high she goes by the elevational contour lines. She rides the thermals up the slopes of the mountain from sea level to between 200-500 meters which according to David H will not take any energy at all! Why she and Annie, ableit not as high up the slope, go up there we do not know. Eagle lake is a drinking water source for the western part of West Vancouver so I doubt it is stocked with fish but there might be some in the lake.

[JudyB]

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.




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




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.




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

[NSEN]

Some notes I have collected from the monitors observations:
July 27th 1pm Jimmy Jr took flight! He is constantly squawking as he goes.(JW)
July 27th evening. Waiting for Jr to fly back to the nest. (MH)
July 28th 9:30am. Jr not in the nest. Seems to be near where he was yesterday. I can hear the adults over by the Anchor Point. Evening Jr back in the nest. Phew! (MH)
July 31st Jimmy Jr doing circles over the inner bay, looking for the up currents I think. Just perched in a tree beside the usual spot. Eaglet is very vocal, squawking up a storm. (JW)
August 3 8am. Jimmy Jr has been on top of tree off our deck squawking away. Moved to another perch and now adult is up there. Last night Jr was on a branch above the nest. So like kids today...NO interest in leaving home! Life is too good with the folks. (JW)
August 5th I was out for a paddle board this morning and witnessed Jimmy Jr take a couple of good flights with both parents in attendance. We were alerted to his whereabouts from the cries of Jr! The fledges are so dark and are hard to see in the shadows of the conifer trees. At one point both adults and Jr were out on the old Griffiths house tree top. One adult took off then Jr followed circling round the 'hood, never going into the neighbouring territory of Annie. On our way back after checking out Annie's turf, mum and Jr were in a pine tree and dad was standing on the Anchor at the point. See photo. Jr was hopping around the pine tree when he took off and landed on the house flat roof! Both parents took off out over the ocean purposefully as though to hunt but ended up circling back and landing on different trees. Jr seems to be landing well. He has been flying now for 10 days. Will probably leave soon. (SMcD)
Note in second photos the rocks islands in the distance are Grebe Islets which are Annie's territory.

[JudyB]

Thanks for your post, NSEN - great to know that Jimmy Jr is doing well, and to see a bit of the area!

[NSEN]

August 17th Harbour Sun starts her northern migration. Her tracker shows that at 11am she is at home. 2pm up mountain slopes at Eagle Lake, by 8pm at top end of Howe Sound, just south of Squamish estuary, on west slopes.
August 18th an eagle is heard at home so the male obviously did not leave with Harbour Sun. Note August 12th was the last time the eaglet was seen so he/she was the first to leave the area.
By 6am on the 19th Harbour Sun is further north up the Coast at Phillips Lake (feeds into Bute Inlet). 8 am at same lake which has an estuary conservancy. 2pm she is on the slopes at 1000 meters above Knight Inlet very close to where Annie was on the 16th.

Orange line is Harbour Sun, blue is Annie. Note how close the end dots are.

[NSEN]

Harbour Sun arrived home from her northern migration on Oct 23rd after almost 10 weeks away. She did not fly as far north as a lot of our tracked eagles stopping just south of Kitimat, BC at Weewanie. A wilderness area on the east side of Devastation Channel on Sept 4th. After only 17 days she started her way back south, stopping at inlets and estuaries for a couple of weeks at a time.

Surprisingly, after only 3 days at home, she took off to Indian River at the head of Indian Arm. This area is remote in that it is a boat ride away from Vancouver or a 2-3 hour drive up to Squamish and back down a 4x4 road along the river to the head of Indian Arm. Much quicker and easier to fly the 30km direct! It had been in the local news about the abundance of Pink salmon in Indian Arm so I guessed she had flown up to feast on spawned out salmon. An eBird count on Oct 27 confirmed my suspicions with a sighting of 17 eagles at the mouth of the river. Also, in the count were 1,000 gulls, 160 Barrows Goldeneye and other ducks. All good pickings for Harbour Sun. She flew home Nov 5th after 10 days of feasting.

Then Nov 13th she leaves again back to Indian River! Back home 7 days later. During these times away her mate had been seen by the monitors so he got the job of defending the territory.

Screen shot shows just her first trip. Red line out to the right with the squiggles at the end.

[NSEN]

Nov 20th Harbour Sun's tracker picks her up at home 7am. Just before 4pm a monitor had a very close view of her as she flew past the window, perched in the neighbour's tree, had a snack, then a poop and flew off. When she flew off she passed by neighbouring monitor and husband, out gardening, who could see the tracker with the naked eye. She flew to Parthenon Point and it is where the tracker picked her up at 4pm. Love the corroboration of monitor and tracker!

[NSEN]

Winter catch up. These are sightings sent to me from several different monitors. All looks good!

Nov 27th 2:30pm just saw an eagle swoop by me with a long branch in its talons. It went to the nest and is doing some upkeep. The angle of the sun created a lot of glare but I believe I could see the tracker on the back so the female, Harbour Sun.

Dec 8 both adults were in the nest yesterday. They were playing or flirting, sort of pecking at each other’s face. It was very cute. One had a long skinny branch it was pulling onto the nest.

Dec 16 eagle pair were perched on their perch tree near the old nest this weekend

Jan 4 1:30 – 3:30. One adult on regular perch tree in the sun near the old nest. I was there when I arrived and still there when I left 2 hours later. I was looking for evidence of a herring spawn but did not see any eggs

Jan 7 eagle pair perched together in adjacent trees on the Parthenon Headland swooping towards the water every now and then. We also hear them daily from the vicinity of last years nest.

Jan 12 10am Tracker shows Harbour Sun on lee side of Eagle Island at same time I saw Gleneagles eagle on Race Rocks. In- between is the territory border. -14C with Arctic Outflow winds.