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Full-Text Articles in Ornithology
Landfill Use By Bald Eagles In The Chesapeake Bay Region, Courtney Turrin, B. D. Watts, Elizabeth K. Mojica
Landfill Use By Bald Eagles In The Chesapeake Bay Region, Courtney Turrin, B. D. Watts, Elizabeth K. Mojica
Arts & Sciences Articles
We examined patterns in the use of landfills (rubbish dumps) in the Chesapeake Bay by Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Sites of solid waste landfills (n = 72) were located using state databases. Satellite tracking data from 64 eagles were used to track eagle movements hourly during daylight and once at midnight to determine roosting locations (2007–2012). Landfill use varied significantly with age class, with hatch-year birds using landfills six times more often than adults and twice as often as third- and fourth-year birds. Hatch-year birds spent significantly more time at landfills than expected based on landfill area …
Seasonal Variation In Space Use By Nonbreeding Bald Eagles Within The Upper Chesapeake Bay, B. D. Watts, Elizabeth K. Mojica, B. J. Paxton
Seasonal Variation In Space Use By Nonbreeding Bald Eagles Within The Upper Chesapeake Bay, B. D. Watts, Elizabeth K. Mojica, B. J. Paxton
Arts & Sciences Articles
Access to food resources is essential to self-maintenance and reproduction and, for species of conservation concern, foraging areas are considered critical habitat. Human disturbance is an important factor restricting access to prey resources for Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and guidelines in the Chesapeake Bay have been developed to mitigate its impact. However, our ability to implement such guidelines has been limited by a lack of information on important foraging areas. We used Brownian bridge movement modeling to develop a population-wide utilization probability surface for Bald Eagles along shorelines within the upper Chesapeake Bay. We used locations (n …
Nest Guarding In Chesapeake Bay Bald Eagles, Courtney Turrin, B. D. Watts
Nest Guarding In Chesapeake Bay Bald Eagles, Courtney Turrin, B. D. Watts
Arts & Sciences Articles
As Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) populations approach carrying capacity in the Chesapeake Bay, competition for breeding territories appears to be intensifying. Frequent territorial interactions may force breeders to adjust nest-guarding behavior. We examined nest-guarding behaviors at active Bald Eagle nests in the lower Chesapeake Bay during the nesting season (2012 and 2013). Guarding coverage was 13.7 ± 4.2% of total observation time during the pre-laying period, 6.8 ± 2.2% of observation time in the incubation period, and 26.3 ± 3.2% of observation time in the nestling period. Females were present in the nest area for 80.0 ± 2.7% …