News About The Raptor Center, College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota
On Feb 22 Harley moved north to the Mississippi River in St. Paul. He roosted near Lillydale on both the 22nd and 23rd. Hourly data showed him taking a few flights over the city as well. The attached photos show his overall movement and a closer view of where he has been at night in St. Paul. The orange line tracks all his movements and shows the path of his daytime excursions.
Harley has been busy moving north into Goodhue County and spending a few nights between Rosemount and Farmington.
Harley has spent the past two days and evenings near the west end of Lake Byllesby, an Audubon Important Bird Area, which is the outflow for the Cannon River. The evening of the 16th he roosted on or very near the Phillippo Scout Camp and last night he was at the delta where the river feeds into the lake. Mark Martell has plotted the daytime movments again (orange lines - can click on the first picture to enlarge it). 
The yellow push pins indicate where Harley has roosted over the last week. Mark Martell kindly drew in (see orange lines - can click on the picture to enlarge) some of Harley's daytime movements, based on the other data points that the transmitter sent. The overall distance from last week is about four miles. 
Harley is still in the general area he has been for the past few days. Last night, he roosted about two miles west of the woodlot where he was on Tuesday when he was visually spotted. 
Part of the reason that Mark Martell wanted to try to find Harley the bald eagle near Cannon Falls, MN was that Golden Eagle 42's transmitter was sending a signal from approximately three miles from Harley's location! If you will recall, GOEA 42 was found injured, then rehabilitated at The Raptor Center, and a transmitter was put on him, too. You can track his movements at Audubon Minnesota's website.
the mystery as to why he had found his way to Cannon Falls was solved quickly. The habitat/topography of the area was very similar to what was around Wabasha, which was where the bird was found injured. The bird seems to prefer heavily wooded bluffs and hills that surround an open field of some sort. The first two photos were taken near where the golden eagle was found injured and presumed to be wintering last fall. The last two photos were taken on the February 9, 2010 trek near Cannon Falls to try to locate him.
Audubon's Director of Bird Conservation, Mark Martell, monitors the data that is being sent from Harley's transmitter, as well as Golden Eagle 42, the bird that was rehabiliated at The Raptor Center and released back into the wild last year. He noticed that both birds were within just a couple of miles from each other, near Cannon Falls. Amber Burnette from The Raptor Center went with him to see if either bird could be actually spotted. It was snowing fairly heavily in the area, so the photo is not clear, but he seems to be doing well! Another bald eagle was within 100 or so yards of Harley.
This is the area where he has been spending the last few days. There are lots of wooded hills, that frame open fields, in the area.
Here is a somewhat close-up shot of Harley, perched.
This is what Harley looks like as he was perched in his tree. Can you spot him? (Scroll down to see an arrow to point him out.)
Since being released at Carpenter Nature Center, Harley's direct line of travel has been 22.4 miles. He has spent the last few days in a woodlot southeast of Cannon Falls. If you click on the photos, they will open into a larger format for easier viewing. A special thanks to Director of Bird Conservation at Audubon Minnesota Mark Martell for providing the maps and interpretation.
Here are a few more pictures of Harley as he is being released. Thank you to Brad Johnson.
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Here is the first report back from Harley's transmitter! As of today, Harley has traveled just under seven miles since he was released Saturday at noon. He appears to be in the areas where there are other bald eagles roosting.
