AEP 2016

[Curmudgeon]

The Appalachian Eagle Project in NYS started camera trapping as part of our Golden Eagle/Scavenger research the day after muzzleloader season ended - 12/23. Things were slow then suddenly one site in Delaware County had a burst of activity. These photos are mostly from Delaware. Some may be from Otsego. The bear could be a big problem as deer carcasses are scarce.

 

Bear removing one of the two carcasses it took.

 

 

Bear resting after clearing out our bait.

 

 

Bald Eagle

 

 

Bald and Golden Eagles together

 

 

Bobcat-coyote standoff (note -the cats usually win, which is weird).

 

 

Coyote

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 2016 by Curmudgeon

[hunter49]

  Cool pics!

[greg54]

Great pics. Do coyotes go after and kill bobcats? I was wondering since they eat feral cats.

[Lawdwaz]

Cool on the coyote/bobcat pics!!!

[Curmudgeon]

Great pics. Do coyotes go after and kill bobcats? I was wondering since they eat feral cats.

 

I have heard they do but several times coyotes have backed off when bobcats are on the bait. We had a fisher drive off a coyote once. We also had a possum on the bait that a bobcat would not approach.

 

[Curmudgeon]

More photos, including a herd of 4 bobcats.

 

Bald Eagles

 

 

 

Golden Eagles

 

 

Herd of bobcats

 

 

Ravens exhibiting pair bonding behavior

 

 

What the heck?

 

[Paula]

kitty cat .....nooo  lol

[wildcat junkie]

 

What the heck?

 

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Fluffy, stop that!

 

[Curmudgeon]

This female  golden eagle was captured yesterday at the same site with the bear. Her wingspan was exactly 7'. It is in the Catskill Forest Preserve, in an area with terrible cell service, so I probably will get data intermittently. I will send updates on her movements at times.

 

 

Photodocumenting her plumage for aging and research. Ignore the guy in camo. That is not Curmudgeon.

 

 

Release

 

 

The bird with a bald eagle just before capture. Note the blind in the background.

 

Edited January 15, 2016 by Curmudgeon

[GreeneHunter]

Nice Pics .... keep em coming !

[turkeyfeathers]

Nice Pics .... keep em coming !

I second the motion

[Paula]

Love them

[Galliform]

How do you capture them? Is it a method similar to turkey capture with fired nets? I imagine bow nets and the like would be difficult to set up in the situation with deer carcasses.

[Curmudgeon]

How do you capture them? Is it a method similar to turkey capture with fired nets? I imagine bow nets and the like would be difficult to set up in the situation with deer carcasses.

 

It is a 20' X 20' net with 3 projectiles. They are each powered by a .22 caliber blank. It is radio controlled. Bow nets would be tough in this situation.

 

Net launcher

 

 

Bird in net

 

[Geno C]

Wow those are some great pics! I saw a bald eagle on my drive back up from the island. I usually see them flying over the same river off 17

[grampy]

This is one of my favorite threads on the forum! Keep up the wonderful work. And thanks for posting these awesome pictures!

[Tacti_Steve]

Awesome pics! Keep up the good work

[Rebel Darling]

Wow...  I had no idea that Golden Eagles were in NY.  I'm awed, and amazed.  I've been fortunate with my Golden Eagle sightings in other states (watched a predation near Golden Gate in CA, and an eye-level cruise in Polychrome Pass, Denali, AK), and hope to be lucky enough to encounter one here.  I'm also looking forward to reading more on this thread.  Thanks for posting...

[peepsight]

 Very Cool ... Thanks for sharing

[Curmudgeon]

Wow...  I had no idea that Golden Eagles were in NY.  I'm awed, and amazed.  I've been fortunate with my Golden Eagle sightings in other states (watched a predation near Golden Gate in CA, and an eye-level cruise in Polychrome Pass, Denali, AK), and hope to be lucky enough to encounter one here.  I'm also looking forward to reading more on this thread.  Thanks for posting...

 

They are rare, and rarely seen in NY. Most of the reports of goldens are immature balds. They all breed in Canada and move through migrating. A small number winter at high elevations on the Appalachian plateau. I wrote an article on them that appeared in the NYS Conservationist in December 2014. You can find that on the DEC site if you search.

 

One reason I keep harping on non-lead ammo is because one of our birds died after feeding at a pile of feral pigs that were killed with lead ammo.

 

BTW - The bird that was caught Thursday returned to the same site to feed Friday and Saturday. We never had that happen before.

[Curmudgeon]

The telemetered golden eagle has spent the last 3 days just off the shoulder of a major NYS highway. I am certain there is a dead deer there. Here are a bunch of recent eagle and raven photos. That large group of ravens completely stripped 2 deer of meat by 8:30 AM the other day. There are probably 100 ravens. When I was there, it was like something from Hitchcock. Most of the meat they cache, which is why they can go through so much.

 

There is one photo here that is not from New York. A collaborator in Ohio sent me the pig photo. I'm glad we aren't getting pigs.

 

Remember, keep these birds safe, use copper bullets. They perform better than lead too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Skillet]

How much lead would it take to kill one of these birds? Is eating 1 bullet enough to cause trouble?

[Skillet]

I'm guessing they don't eat whole slugs, but fragments that are throughout the meat?

[chas0218]

The telemetered golden eagle has spent the last 3 days just off the shoulder of a major NYS highway. I am certain there is a dead deer there. Here are a bunch of recent eagle and raven photos. That large group of ravens completely stripped 2 deer of meat by 8:30 AM the other day. There are probably 100 ravens. When I was there, it was like something from Hitchcock. Most of the meat they cache, which is why they can go through so much.

 

There is one photo here that is not from New York. A collaborator in Ohio sent me the pig photo. I'm glad we aren't getting pigs.

 

Remember, keep these birds safe, use copper bullets. They perform better than lead too.

 

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Wow that is a big boar! 

[Curmudgeon]

How much lead would it take to kill one of these birds? Is eating 1 bullet enough to cause trouble?

 

I takes only a tiny amount of lead to kill an eagle. People say a grain the size of a piece of rice. However, surface area is really what matters. When you have a gut pile with 100 lead fragments, a lot less is needed to kill a bird because the surface area is so much greater when it is fragmented. Sometimes they eat large chunks of lead which are problematic.

 

There is a treatment called chelation - pronounced like chemotherapy "ki" - that reduces the lead levels in sick birds. Unfortunately, many of these birds die shortly after release.