BETA02 (tracked 3/19/19-1/15/20)

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gemini
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BETA02 (tracked 3/19/19-1/15/20)

Post by gemini » Sun Sep 22, 2019 1:56 am

Opening this topic for reports on BETA02's activities.

BETA02 was found injured and nearly dead by our one of our directors in January 2019. She was incredibly lethargic and underweight and presumed to have suffered from rodenticide or lead poisoning. She was taken to OWL Rehab Center in Delta and was subsequently nursed back to health and released with a transmitter on March 21 2019. She left nearly immediately thereafter to head north to Alaska for the breeding season. This bird is presumed to be about 4.5 years old based upon some black flecking and subadult plumage in her wings and breast.

Link to BETA02's Tracking Map

BAEA19-28 - BETA02
Banding Date: Mar 19, 2019
USFW Band #: 0709-00338 (right leg)
Banded: Yellow band with black letters E over 1 on the left leg
Captured: Owl Rehab, Delta
Age: 4+ years
Eye color: Dark Yellow-pale brown
Sex: Female

Brought to OWL by Mike Seears on Jan 7, 2019. Was emaciated on entry. OWL case ID#19-05. Released March 21? at UBC by Seears.

Here's a picture of BETA02, probably taken at OWL shortly before release (clicks much bigger):
beta02-slide1.jpg

...and a closeup of her bands:
beta02-slide2.jpg
Image


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JudyB
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Re: Tracking BETA02

Post by JudyB » Tue Sep 24, 2019 10:17 am

Summary of Recorded Travels
  • BETA02 was found underweight and lethargic and taken to OWL in January 2019, where she spent time recovering
  • She was subsequently banded on March 19 and released on March 21st
  • Upon release, BETA02 immediately headed to Salmon Inlet (inland a bit from Sechelt) and stayed there March 22-29
  • After that, she headed up the coast, reaching Prince Rupert (700km/435mi away) on April 3rd
  • She then crossed to the Alaskan Panhandle on April 4th, then on to the Wrangell area April 7-15
  • On April 17 she crossed a tiny bit of BC then went into the Yukon
  • She stayed in the southwest corner of the Yukon and the bit of BC just south of it from April 17 to September 22
  • After that, BETA02 headed down to the coast, arriving around September 26, then headed up to Yakutat; she was in that area from October 3 to October 24
  • Data points were scarce from then through December 5th, but it looks as if she went inland, possibly following rivers; I don't know if the lack of data is because it's such a remote area, or if her tracker was beginning to fail.
  • She was on Admiralty Island, halfway down the Panhandle, on December 6.
  • BETA02 uploaded data on January 2, 2020, from a bit further south on the Alaskan Panhandle; she had been out of touch since July 19; the trackers store data if the eagles aren't near a cell tower for a while - but they don't have a lot of memory, which may be why there's not much data for some of that time. If you compare her final map with the screenshot I posted on January 5 (link), you'll see there was initially no data for the time spent up near Yakutat.
  • She uploaded data again on January 15, by which time she was almost back to Vancouver - and that was the last time we heard from her. I'm hoping the tracker failed and she is fine - but we won't know unless someone spots her bright yellow and black band.

    20230118_BETA02_map.jpg

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Re: Tracking BETA02

Post by JudyB » Tue Sep 24, 2019 10:50 am

NOTE: This and the next three posts are being added in January 2023 to highlight some of BETA02's earlier travels; as we provided trackers to more eagles, we ran out of unique colors that were easy to see on all backgrounds, so switched to red for all individual maps. That's why the path is red in these posts and gray in the following posts which were created earlier.

After being released, BETA02 headed north and then northwest, ending up at the Salmon Inlet, a bit inland from Sechelt. She arrived there on March 22 and stayed there through March 29, 2019.
20230120_BETA02_001.jpg

She made good time heading up the coast, reaching the area near Prince Rupert on April 3rd.
20230120_BETA02_002.jpg

That's about 700 km or 435 miles in about 5 days - wow!


She crossed into the Alaskan Panhandle the next day, taking several days to arrive near Wrangell, where she stayed from April 7th to the 15rh.
20230120_BETA02_003.jpg

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Re: Tracking BETA02

Post by JudyB » Tue Sep 24, 2019 2:11 pm

Zooming it a bit closer, it looks as if she was exploring the Stikine River.
20230120_BETA02_004.jpg

Two days later, she had crossed back over the international border into Yukon (the border is the gray line near Skagway) (the red dot on the map is approximately where she was on the highlighted day on the calendar)
20230120_BETA02_005.jpg

Here's a closer look at the part of the Yukon where she stayed from April 17 until September 22nd.
20230120_BETA02_006.jpg

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Re: Tracking BETA02

Post by JudyB » Tue Sep 24, 2019 5:57 pm

This is a bit tricky to see, but on the 21st or 22nd, she crossed the border between Yukon and BC (the border is the horizontal dotted line just above the red dot - I'll add an arrow to make it easier to see):
20230120_BETA02_007.jpg

And now that I've seen the border and checked a bit more carefully, she had been in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Park area from August 3 to around September 3, likely crossing back and forth a few times while she was near the border.
20230120_BETA02_008.jpg

Then she was back around Dezadeash until September 22, when she again headed a bit south, crossing back into the Alaskan Panhandle on the 24th, reaching the coast around September 26, then heading up to Yakutat, where she was on October 3rd.
20230120_BETA02_009.jpg

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Re: Tracking BETA02

Post by JudyB » Tue Oct 01, 2019 4:51 pm

She explored that area until October 24th, then headed north to the nameless place with the red dot.
20230120_BETA02_010.jpg

She probably explored more than just that little dot, but didn't appear to move until November 8 (the trackers store some data when eagles are in remote areas with no cell connections, but a lot of the little details are lost, and I expect that's what happened here. She seemed to stay a little further down the line heading southeast through December 5th, and then on December 6 she checked in from Admiralty Island, halfway down the Panhandle.
20230120_BETA02_011.jpg

The tracker seemed stuck there until January 3, 2020, when she was back near Wrangell.
20230120_BETA02_012.jpg

And that's the end of the inserted posts, which are using some of the data that may have been recovered from the tracker as she made her way south past more cell towers.

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Re: Tracking BETA02

Post by JudyB » Sun Jan 05, 2020 8:48 am

It looks as if BETA02 checked in on January 2 2020!
20200105_001.jpg

We had not heard from her since July 30, 2019, at which point she was in the maze of lines just outside Whitehorse:
20200105_002.jpg

There weren't a lot of data points uploaded - hopefully that will improve if she heads back into BC where there are more Canadian cell towers. Here's a closer look at the general area where she's been since leaving the more populated area - lots of parks and preserves which likely don't have cell towers, then to the Alaska panhandle, where most towers use US frequencies.
20200105_003.jpg

She was in Alaska when she checked in - and we may not hear from her again until she reaches BC.

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Re: Tracking BETA02

Post by JudyB » Wed Jan 15, 2020 2:23 pm

January 15, 2020

BETA02 has checked in - and she's almost arrived at the Vancouver/Delta area!
20200115_023.jpg
20200115_024.jpg

Looking back, it looks as if she was near Prince Rupert on January 7 and headed south after that - and I may have missed seeing her because I usually look at the combined map in satellite view, and her gray color is hard to see on the dark green of much of the map.
20200115_025.jpg

It looks as if she stayed a bit north of Campbell River from January 8-14, and then headed south to where she is today.
20200115_026.jpg

Given how chilly it is in the Vancouver area this week, I do hope she doesn't keep heading south to Mexico!!

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Re: Tracking BETA02

Post by JudyB » Sat Jan 21, 2023 11:56 am

Saturday, January 21, 2023

Sadly, January 15, 2020, was the last time BETA02 checked in.

Here are three views of the area where she was at the time, two in map view and the third in satellite view (all click bigger).
20230120_BETA02_015.jpg
20230120_BETA02_014.jpg
20230120_BETA02_013.jpg

It would have been interesting to see what she would do in a year or two when she was ready to nest - I don't remember any other eagles who spent much time just over the border in southern Yukon, and since she was likely 4 or 5, she might have been checking out potential nesting sights on her trip up there.

Eagles who make it to 4 years old are generally pretty good at survival, so it's at least as likely that the tracker failed than that something happened to her - but unless someone sees an eagle with a black band reading E over 1, we'll never know for sure. Wishing you clear skies and lots of fish, wherever you are!

I'm adding two pictures of BETA02 to the first post, and putting a summary of her travels into the second post.

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