Norfolk Botanical Garden Eagle Tracking

A project of The Center for Conservation Biology in conjunction with the partners and sponsors detailed below.

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Norfolk Botanical Garden Eagle Tracking
NameSpeciesLife StageRelease DateLast LocationDays Transmitted
CamelliaBald EagleJuvenile2010-05-052010-09-02120
AzaleaBald EagleJuvenile2009-05-202010-09-03471

Click on an animal's name for maps and more information.

Introduction

In May 2009, a young Bald Eagle was fitted with a tracking device to allow researchers at The Center for Conservation Biology to follow its movements after fledging the nest. This eagle, named Azalea was hatched at a nest in the Norfolk Botanical Gardens (NBG), in the southern portion of the Chesapeake Bay, USA. Azalea was the first from the Hampton Roads, Virginia region, and will provide answers to a commonly asked question, "Where do the eagles go after they leave their nest?"

In 2010, a second eagle will be tracked from the nest at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Named Camellia (a botanical theme!), it is also the oldest of a set of triplets. Tune in to follow its explorations of the Chesapeake Bay and see if it flies in older sibling Azalea’s wing beats or makes new tracks of its own.

Our objectives in following the NBG eagles are:

(1) To follow the movements of juvenile Bald Eagles after fledging from their nest at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens

(2) To provide an educational tool for learning about bird migration and eagle ecology in the Chesapeake Bay

(3) To learn about foraging and roosting behaviors of Bald Eagles in the Chesapeake Bay

The eagles wear a 70g solar powered GPS-PTT satellite transmitter attached with a backpack style Teflon harness. The solar panels recharge the transmitter's battery and we expect to receive 3 years of tracking data from this eagle. Visit our EagleTrak website http://ccb-wm.org/eagletrak/index.htm for more information.