Bald Eagle Migration Update: February 24, 1997

Peter Nye

To: Journey North
From: Peter Nye, New York Department of Environmental Conservation

"We outfitted our second eagle with satellite (and other) apparatus on Saturday, 2/15. He is a male, 3 yrs old that I caught within our primary wintering area in Sullivan County, southeastern NY. We had quite a day; 17 eagles in all around our carcass, but when finally safe to fire a gust of wind blew the net slightly off-target and our choice adult bird escaped; ah, the tribulations of an eagle-trapper.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

• Will this younger bird leave at around the same time as others?
• Will he respond to similar cues?
• Will he be in any hurry to get where he is going?
• Will he move in a direct line to some summering place and hang around there seeing what breeding territories might be available (getting ready for a year or two hence)? Or will he wander around great distances all summer?
• Will he return to the same wintering area, when?

"More later,
EAGLEYE NYE

"P.S. This eagle is known as N 99."

Try This!
Imagine you are Peter Nye and have the chance to compare the migrations of adult and juvenile eagles for the first time. Keep a written journal of your observations this spring, based on the satellite data you receive. Do your own research by reading as much as you can about eagles. Review each of the questions Peter Nye has listed above. Predict how you think each bird will behave, then compare and contrast the behavior of these two eagles. Do you think eagles of different ages might behave differently? Why or why not? Evaluate your observations carefully. Can you assume differences in behavior are always due to difference in age? Why or why not?

• Click Here for Today's Satellite Data
• How to Plot Satellite Data

After reviewing the data for both of our eagles, see if you can answer this Challenge Question:

Challenge Question # 3
"Where was Eagle #N99 on February 20th? Where do you suspect he is finding food? Do you think he is migrating yet? Why or why not?"

To respond to this question, please follow the instructions at the end of this report.

Last Week's Challenge Questions
Students did an excellent job with our last Challenge Questions. If you had trouble with the questions, you can learn from these students!

Challenge Question #1
"If you wore a backpack that weighed 2% of your body weight, how heavy would your backpack be?"

Here's some backpack math by students at Angevine Middle School, Lafayette, CO. These answers show the eagle's backpack wouldn't weigh it down too much, don't you agree?

"We had 4 people in our group. Our weights were 78, 147, 96, 100 pounds. We calculated 2% of our body weight like this:
78 x .02 = 1.56 lbs.
147 x.02 = 2.94 lbs.
96 x .02 = 1.92 lbs. 100 x .02 = 2 lbs.
That is how much backpacks that are 2% of our weight would weigh."
Travis Rickman, Joel Perez, Josh Mendez, Andre Mata
Angevine Middle School
Lafayette, CO
sands@ucsu.colorado.edu

Thanks also to students at the following schools for their calculations. (Click Here to see their answers.)

• St. Thomas More Catholic School in Kingston, Ontario
• James Hart Junior High in Homewood, IL
• Iselin Middle School in New Jersey
• Ferrisburgh Central School. In Vermont
• Dr. Howard Elementary School in Champaign, Illinois
• OHS Science Lab in Florida
• Jason in Maryville, Tennessee
• East Hills School in Roslyn, New York
• Technology Learning Campus in Robbinsdale, MN
• James F Condon School in Boston Mass
• Halfway Elementary Sixth Grade

Challenge Question #2 "If the satellite goes around the earth every 101 minutes, how fast is it moving?"

VERY FAST, agree all the students who answered this question! Jeff and Michael from Maryville, Tennessee figured the speed in miles per hour, while Gabriel Brotman in Roslyn, New York calculated her answer in miles per minute:

"Dear Journey North,
"We have calculated that the satellite is moving at a speed of 14,880 miles per hour. We calculated the number of hours in 101 minutes (1.68 hours) and then we divided 25,000 miles (what we think is the distance around the earth in miles) by 1.68 and got the answer 14,880 miles per hour. Thank you, Jeff and Micheal"
MCGINLEYL@ci.maryville.tn.us

From: NEW YORK
"This is Gabriel Brotman, one of the eagle team members from Mrs. Berger's 5th grade class. If the satellite goes around the Earth every 101 minutes, I think that it would be traveling at about 248.32 miles per minute. I think that the distance around the equator is 25,000 miles so I divided that by 101 to get distance per minute."
East Hills School, Roslyn, NY
K12ROBZJ@vaxc.hofstra.edu

Click Here to see answers from students at Smith Vocational High School in Northampton, MA, Pollock, South Dakota science class, and Angevine Middle School in Lafayette, CO.

How to Respond to Journey North Bald Eagle Challenge Question # 3

1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-eagle@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question #3
3. In the body of the message, give your answer to this question:

Challenge Question # 3
"Where was Eagle #N99 on February 20th? Where do you suspect he is finding food? Do you think he is migrating yet? Why or why not?"

The Next Bald Eagle Migration Update Will be Posted on March 10, 1997