Eagle Trax Update

by: Larissa Smith

Duke returns to his nest site

We have been following “Duke” on NJ Eagle Trax, since he fledged from the Duke Farms nest on June 15th, 2019. He spent January in the Chesapeake Bay region. February and March he was ranging around northern MD and southern PA. On March 21st he made a big move up to NJ and was very close to his old nest. The points show him at Bradley Gardens at 4:42pm and the next point, to the southwest, at 4:59. We don’t know where he was between those two points but was certainly close enough to pass over his old nest. He spent the night at Round Valley Reservoir and the headed south on March 22nd.

Oran: Alive and Well

“Oran” is an eagle banded (E/17) and tagged as a nestling on Delaware Bay in 2015. You can see his movements on the NJ Eagle Trax Page. Oran had been around the lower Maurice River on October 24, 2016 when his tag stopped transmitting; 11 days later the tag “pinged” from a farm field in Maryland. A Maryland state biologist investigated for us, and found the transmitter in a harvested corn field, with no sign of any eagle. The transmitter was intact but the harness was in pieces, looking like it had gone through the harvester. We didn’t know what happened to him, but were hopeful that the backpack harness came loose and Oran pulled it off. Kathy Clark, ENSP, received notice that on March 24, 2020, Oran was resighted in Port Mahon, DE, by photographer Dwayne Ragin. Port Mahon is 15 miles across the bay from where he fledged almost five years ago. He is now a handsome five year old adult. This was gratifying news about one of our beloved New Jersey eagles!

• New Jersey Bald Eagle Project
• NJ Eagle Trax
• 2019 NJ Bald Eagle Project Report
• Duke Farms Eagle Cam