Opening Day Weather and Eagles

[Curmudgeon]

I am really looking forward to some cold and maybe some snow on the ground.

 

I send raptor migration forecasts a couple of hundred people that travel sometimes hundreds of miles to well known migration concentration points. It is an esoteric activity but everyone loves raptors, right? I expect Saturday to be one of the big Golden Eagle migration days of the year in New York. Anywhere east of Lake Ontario south into the Catskills could have eagles moving. While there are no deer, occasionally watch the sky, especially if you are at high elevation. Maybe you will see one.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Curmudgeon

[NYhuntingdogs]

Do they come to rockland/orange counties?

Edited November 22, 2014 by NYhuntingdogs

[Curmudgeon]

Rarely, but it happens. There were Golden Eagles wintering in Harriman Park and the West Point Reservation the past 2 winters. Two years ago, one spent the entire winter near Storm King.

[wooly]

Sure wish I could find one of these guys flying around Erie County.

I know guys occasionally spot them along the Niagara River, but I don't get out that way often enough to successfully hunt one down.

[Curmudgeon]

Most of the eagles along the river are Bald Eagles. Goldens are upland birds. They show up in western NY mostly in the spring during migration. A few wintering birds will end up drifting around western NY. In the spring they move north and - because they won't cross big water - follow the lake shores and end up heading north once they clear the east end of Lake Ontario. There will be an article in the next Conservationist which will include a map of GPS tracked eagles.