Catalina update, September 5th, 2007

Hi everyone,
On the last update I listed the eagles that have apparently left the island: K72, K73, K74, and K78. K-79 must have left on Thursday ‘cause I flew on Friday and could not find her anywhere.
The rest of the eaglets have been moving around all over the island except for K-71. His last location was near the WE nest, which looks so messy and empty by the way.

So, on Sunday I went camping at the West End so I can get an early start and hopefully get a visual on the bird.

After 5 hours of searching and radio tracking I found him, but he was dead. He was sort of under a bush facing down, it didn’t look anything had dragged him under there but it was completely eaten away by insects. We haven’t determined the cause of death, though based on his condition I don’t think there’s anything that we could do to find out. Here’s sort of where he was, about 2/3 down the way from the WE ridge.

And this is him, after I retrieved its body from the bushes; the last picture you’ll see of him.

Sorry to begin this update with the bad news but here’s something to cheer us all up:

Hyde arrived to Catalina today!
He looked very happy in his new cage, he tried out pretty much every perch in the enclosure and he even took several drinks from his new tub.
Pete and I were very excited about bringing him out here. We’re glad to see him exploring his new place and already enjoying his new home. The perches at his old place weren’t nearly as high as the ones we put out for him so I’m sure he is discovering that he can ‘fly’ farther and higher now that he’s been given a chance.

I can’t wait to begin training and have him up on the glove. I have the feeling he’s going to be a great educational eagle.

He already let us touch his jesses so catching him is not going to be a problem at all.

I’m still going to be training Pimu of course; we’ve been making so much progress so I have high hopes for her. She did seem a little distracted during her training today but it’s understandable, she was very curious about the ‘boy’ next door. He didn’t really vocalize a lot today so I don’t know what he sounds like yet but Pimu gave a few calls and Hyde looked for the source of such strange noises. I’ll tell you more about the interaction and attitudes towards each other once I observe them in the next few days.
Here’s something else that will cheer you up. K-79 is back in Catalina. Today we picked up her frequency northeast of the airport; it was very weak but back in the island nevertheless.
Here’re a few shots of some of the places where the eagles like to hang out.
The ‘pregnant lady’ ridge at Two Harbors

Little harbor, Shark harbor and Cottonwood beach. The first two commonly visited and there’re camping sites all around them.

cont...

Sorry about K-71, but beautiful pictures!

Very sorry to hear about K-71, poor thing. At least he was close to home.

Hyde is beautiful! Thanks so much for the update Steff! You're fair-dinkum! Ozzie

The Reservoir

Ben Weston beach. It’s a beautiful, sandy beach with great surfing waves.

Rancho Escondido, in the interior near the airport.

This is Silver Canyon on the south side of the island by the Palisades.

Lastly, an amazing view…the best reward after a long day of work.

Until next week
Steffani

Thanks for all the news. Both good and bad. Glad Hyde is there and is enjoying his new home. What are Jesses? I guess it must be a good thing that he allows you to touch it. So Pimu and Hyde together.....hmmm? Seperate enclosures but do they consider mating? Gook luck with all the training.
The pictures were magnificent as usual. Glad to hear about all the babies that are still hanging around and can be found. It's amazing that you were able to find the one we lost in all that brush. Thanks for keeping us informed!

I've been gone for a couple weeks, not sure who Hyde is or where he came from or why he can't be in the wild. He looks to be a juvenile and I hope he can be trained to educate children (and us big kids) on bald eagles. I've met Pimu....

I agree, we new that the first year is the worst but it is still hard

Oh, Steff, I am so sorry to hear about K71 - he was from Pinnacle rock nest. What a shame! I am glad you were finally able to find him. Will you send his body to the eagle repository in Denver?

I didn't realize so many eagles were off the islands. Glad to hear K-79 is back.

Hyde is a beautiful eagle. I have never seen such close up pics of a golden eagle. I am looking forward to hearing about the interaction between Pimu and Hyde. I would also like to hear his vocalizations.

What are jessee's?

Great report, even thought good and bad

One other question - why is Hyde in captivity? What is his injury?

The leather strap on his leg.

Hyde is a golden eagle.

As always, life is about good news and bad news. So sorry about the loss of K-71 but great news in that the others are soaring! Thank you for letting us know...

Wonderful news about Hyde - glad to hear his move is complete - wonder what kind of boat rides those were - I would love to have been one of those passengers! LOL Your efforts are paying off and even though it is a long slow process, there seems to be light at the end of that tunnel! And the good that Hyde and Pimu can do thru educating the people....

As always fabulous photos, giving us such a great sense of the island! I've seen some from the ground but to see it from the air! WOW.

Thank you Steffani for a great update and the info. Thank you Peter. Welcome Hyde! (Pimu - be nice to your new neighbor - maybe you can share the new space together!)

Bringing this forward - it was posted in last week's update. Steffani said she will provide more info on Hyde for all of us, shortly - thanks Steff!!

STEFFANI - Thanks for the great update and pics - so sorry to hear about K-71 - glad you found him though - I'm glad you didn't feel you needed to shield us from seeing pics of him - let us know if you find out anymore about how he died.

Hyde is so beautiful - sounds like he is going to be accepting of people being close to him, esp. after seeing the pic of Dr. Sharpe? holding his jessee.

Loved all the pics of the surrounding areas of the island - just beautiful - sure appreciate all the work you do and for keeping us all informed of the activities of the eagles.