The Condor98~293-299 0 TheCooper Ornithological Society 1996

COMPLETE MIGRATION CYCLE OF GOLDEN BREEDING IN NORTHERN QUEBEC ’

SERGE BRODEUR~ G.R.E.B.E. Inc., 2045 rue Stanley, Montreal, QuebecH3A 2V4, Canada

ROBERT D~CARIE~ G.R.E.B.E. Inc., 2045 rue Stanley, Montreal, QuebecH3A 2V4, Canada

DAVID M. Avian Scienceand ConservationCentre of McGill University,2111 I Lakeshore, Ste-Anne de Bellevue,Quebec H9X 3 V9, Canada

MARK FULLER Raptor Researchand TechnicalAssistance Center, Boise State University, 1910 UniversityDrive, Boise,ID 83725

Abstract. Radio tracking via satellite was initiated to study the year-round movements of Golden Eagles( chrysaetoscanadensis) breeding on the east coast of Hudson Bay, Quebec. In June and August 1992, six Golden Eagles(five adults and one juvenile) were marked, three ofwhich completedtheir year-round movements. The eaglesleft their breeding area in mid- to late October and migrated to known wintering areas in the eastern United States.They used different routes but each followed the same general path during fall and springmigrations, which lasted between 26 and 40 days,and 25 and 5 1 days,respectively. Eagleswintered from 93 to 135 daysin areaslocated 1,650 to 3,000 km southof their breedingterritory. In spring 1993, satellitetelemetry located the eaglesin their former breedingterritory in late March, mid-April and early May. This studyconfirms previous suggestionsthat somebreeding Golden Eagles wintering in easternUnited Statescome from northernQuebec and describesthe firstsuccessful tracking of the completeyearly migration cycleof a . Key words: Raptors;Aquila chrysaetos;Golden ; migration; telemetry;satellite.

INTRODUCTION Eaglesfrom their autumn migration to their win- Raptor migration study has relied mostly on ter range or back to their nest. banding data, radar, and migration counts made Satellite telemetry minimizes many of these at sites where migrant raptors concentrate. Al- difficulties (Fancy et al. 1988, Harris et al. 1990). though substantial long-term data have been It has proven useful to describe movements of compiled, these techniques provide limited in- pelagicbirds (Jouventin and Weimerskirch 1990), formation on the origin, destination, and timing and parts of migrants’ annual flights (Strikwerda of raptor migration routes (Haugh 1984, Kerlin- et al. 1986, Berthold et al. 1992, Howey 1992, ger 1989, Alerstam 1990). Conventional radio- Meyburg and Lobkov 1994, Grubb et al. 1994, telemetry has yielded insights into raptor migra- Meyburg et al. 1995a, 1995b, Fuller et al., in tion behavior but involves considerable logisti- press).Meyburg et al. (1995b, in press)have re- cal and administrative difficulties and is limited cently tracked a complete 12-month cycle of a by hazardous weather, daylight, and security Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina), and a considerations. Only Harmata (1984) and back and forth migration of a Wahlberg’s Eagle McClelland et al. (1994) were able to follow Bald (Aquilu wahlbergi). Golden Eaglescan migrate over long distances (DeSmet 1987). The recovery in southern Que- bec and Pennsylvania of leg bands of three ju- I Received 25 October 1995. Accepted 9 February venile Golden Eaglesbanded in northern Quebec 1996. 2 Present address:821 GaspCBromont, Quebec JOE (Spofford 197 1, Millsap and Vana 1984), as well 1LO, Canada. as migration counts made at different lookouts 3Corresponding author. around the Great Lakes and along the Appala- W31

SATELLITE TRACKING OF MIGRATING GOLDEN EAGLES 295

ing the spring migration. The remaining were during summer and winter (Table 1). Three eaglesleft their breeding territories dur- ing 14-l 6 October and the fourth bird started to migrate on 30 October (Table 2). In October, the average daily temperature was 1.3”C (-6.6 to 11.7”C), average daily rain and snow precipita- tions were 8.8 mm and 1.1 cm (maximum daily precipitation 11.6 mm and 6.6 cm) and average daily snow accumulation was 1.4 cm (max 10 cm) (Luc Mercier, pers. comm.; Table 3). A northerly wind was generally associatedwith the eagles’ departure. The eagles used different routes to their win- tering range (Fig. 1). Three flew a south- ernly coursethrough central Quebec, then around Lake Ontario and along the Appalachian Moun- tains to their wintering area in the eastern United States. Eagle one reached Pennsylvania in early December and wintered there. Eagle 3 flew through Pennsylvania during the first week of November and wintered in West Virginia. Eagle 4 crossedthe former stateduring the secondweek of November. It was observedin Fulton County, southern Pennsylvania on 13 November by K. Striedieck (pers. comm.) and wintered near the junction of the Alabama, Tennessee, and Geor- gia borders. Eagle 2 chose an entirely different route. It migrated along Hudson Bay, then moved through Ontario to crossthe Great Lakes by the Strait of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, finally wintering in Michigan. The birds took between 26 and 40 days to reach their respective wintering areas separated by 150 to 1,000 km (Table 2) and spentthree to four months on their wintering grounds. After 3 February, we lost track of eagle 3 in West Virginia; this bird was not seen again. The other three eagles left their wintering areas in March. Two eagles started to migrate in early March and used almost the same route as during fall along the Appalachians and through central Quebec (Fig. 1). One was located in Mont Trem- blant Park, a provincial park in southern Quebec (46”30’N, 74”3O’W). The other eagle crossedthe strait of Mackinac at the end of March, wandered west of James Bay, then turned back, crossedthe southern tip of James Bay and followed its for- mer route along Hudson Bay. This eagle re- mained for about a month on the west shore of James Bay, along the coast and on the large Ak- imiski island (53QO’N, 8 l”3O’W) before retum- ing to its breeding territory. Satellites located the 296 SERGE BRODEUR ET AL.

TABLE 3. Meteorological variables registeredat Kuujjuarapik weather station (Environment Canada) on the presumed days of departure of Golden Eaglesfrom their breeding range.

Precipitation Wind Snow Temperature XC”- Velocity MU.. Min. AK Rain Snow mulation Mitt. Max. Date (“c) M (“c) (mm) (cm) (cm) (km) Cl@ Origin 10/14/92’ 3.9 -0.3 1.8 11.6 Tr 0 14 29.6 West and north-west 10/15/92’ 0.9 -0.7 0.1 0 Tr 0 5.55 22.2 West and north-west 10/16/92’ 0.7 -2.2 -0.8 0 0 Tr 0 22.2 North-east and east 10/30/922 -0.3 -3.4 -1.9 Tr 1.6 8 18.5 48.1 South-west, west and north-west

’ Eaglesnos. 2, 3 and 4 1eAtheir breedingrange between 14 and 16 October. z Eagleno. I leti its breedingrange on 30 October. eaglesin their nesting territories in March, April topographical features were associatedwith the and May 1993 (Table 2). The location data also eagles’ paths in United States but not in central revealed that the birds remained in their respec- Quebec and Ontario where they migrated over tive nesting areas until transmitter battery de- a largely flat or featureless terrain with only pletion during the first and second week of June sparsely distributed mountains. Eagles 1 and 3 1993. followed the Appalachian Mountains for a few The four eaglesmigrated accordingto a regular hundred kilometers and eagle 4 migrated along schedule,never staying in one location for more the Appalachians for more than 1,150 km in fall than two days except for the eagle that stopped and spring migrations. along the James Bay coast during its spring mi- Many raptors are counted along the Appala- gration. The eagles migrated mean (*SE) dis- chians during migration in eastern North Amer- tance of 65 + 18 km/day (range 49-8 1 km/day), ica (Haugh 1984, Heintzelman 1986). These during the fall migration and 68 + 31 km/day mountains are oriented northeast to southwest (range 32-91 km/day) as they returned to their (250”-260” Kittatinny Ridge, Pennsylvania) and nesting area (Fig. 1, Table 2). Eagle 2 covered facilitate migration with orographic lift (Kerlin- the 1,650 km to its nesting range at an average ger 1989:96-99). A study of eagle passagesat rate of 79 km/day, not considering the time spent Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, a well-known ob- on Akimiski Island and along James Bay shore- servation point in Pennsylvania, showed that line. These migration rates are based on distances adult flights peak in early to mid- between location samples. Thus the birds prob- November (Brett 1991:54). Two of our radio ably flew a greater distance since it is unlikely marked eagles passed through this region from that all flights were straight, point-to-point. 3 to 13 November, the third wintered in Penn- sylvania after arriving in early December. Our results indicate that Golden Eagles may DISCUSSION compensate for potential flight path displace- Radio tracking Golden Eagles via low orbiting ment causedby winds. Eaglesdeviated little from satellites provided the first complete migration a direct line (160”) when migrating through Que- of individuals to and from their wintering grounds bec and Ontario. Moreover, eagle 2 followed a as well as new insights into adult Golden Eagle 200” heading when crossing Ontario during its in eastern North America. Results re- autumn migration, mostly against prevailing vealed that individuals from the same breeding winds. area migrated and wintered in different areas of Our results also suggestthat the shorelines of latitude separatedby up to 1,000 km. Two of the large bodies of water can act as diversion lines three birds tracked on spring migration flew a or barriers, especially for broad-winged raptors route similar to that for their fall migration. Stud- like eaglesthat are dependent on updrafts (Ker- ies on the LesserSpotted Eagle in Europe and on linger 1989:263-266). The fall and spring move- the Wahlberg’s Eagle in have shown sim- ments of our eaglessupport this idea; they flew ilar results (Meyburg et al. 1995b, in press). around the Great Lakes past well known migrant Movements of the marked eaglesshowed that hawk concentration areas (Haugh 1984, Titus SATELLITE TRACKING OF MIGRATING GOLDEN EAGLES 291

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FIGURE 1. Migration patterns of four Golden Eaglesvia satellite tracking. 298 SERGE BRODEUR ET AL. and Fuller 1989). Moreover, the eagle that flew to its nesting territory. Seal bones have been over the southern tip of James Bay in spring identified in the prey remains of Golden Eagles crossedfrom Akimiski Island to a smaller island, (Brodeur et al., unpubl.) and seal carcassesare then to the eastern shoreof JamesBay. The max- left by native hunters on this island (J. G. Ricard, imum flight distance covered when crossingsea pers. comm.). water from island to island was less than 50 km. This distance is twice the maximum water cross- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ing cited for Golden Eagles by Kerlinger (1989: This studywas financially supportedby Hydro-Quebec 338) but the presenceof ice on JamesBay during as part of the Grande-Baleine hydroelectric project the first week of May may facilitate such water studies. We wish to thank Michel Lepage, Raymond McNicholl. Laurier Breton (Min. de 1’Environnement crossing,allowing the eagle to land on the ice or et de la Faune),Susan Klugman (U.S. Fish and Wildlife at least perceive the ice as potential land. Service),William Seegar(U.S. Army), Daniel Lambert The average migration distance of theseeagles and Francois Momeau (G.R.E.B.E. Inc.). Paul Dubois (65 km/day fall, 68 km/day spring) is slightly (pilot, HtliExpress), John Cummings (U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture, Denver, CO), Paul Howey (Mi- longer than estimated in studiesin western North crowave Telemetry Inc.) and Luc Mercier (Environ- America. Applegate et al. (1987) estimated the ment Canada)who all contributed to the successof our migration distance of a Golden Eagle that was study. Supplementary financial assistancefrom The followed for 2 15 km to be 49 km/day during the Wilson Society, Province of Quebec Society for the Protection of Birds, and FCAR helped for the com- fall of 1974 in Wisconsin. An immature Golden pletion of this study. Paul Kerlinger, Richard Perreault Eagle banded in Northwest Territories, Canada, and Marcel Laperle kindly reviewed the manuscript. covered approximately 50 km/day (Kuyt 1967). Speedsof two Golden Eagles observed at Hawk LITERATURE CITED Mountain ranged from 45 to 5 1 km/hr and av- -TAM, T. 1990. .Cambridge Univ. eraged 48 km/hr (Broun and Goodwin 1943). Press, Cambridge. Golden Eagleshave wintered in Pennsylvania, APPLEGATE,R. D., D. D. BERGER,W. W. COCHRAN, West Virginia, Alabama and Michigan in the past, ANDA. J. RAIM. 1987. Observationsof a radio- but none of the counties visited by these birds taggedGolden Eagleterminating fall migration. J. are known as regular wintering sites(Millsap and Raptor Res. 21:68-70. BERTHOLD,P., E. NOWAK, AND U. QUERNER. 1992. Vana 1984). The topography of mountainous ar- Satelliten-Telemetrie beim WeiBstorch (Ciconia eas or large remote tracts of land together with ciconia)auf dem Wegzug-eine Pilotstudie. J. Or- restrictedaccess and secretivenessof Golden Ea- nithol. 133:155-164. gles may explain this discrepancy. Bamr, J. J. 1991. The mountain and the migration. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, NY. Movements of raptors are closely related to BROUN,M., AM) B. V. GOODWIN. 1943. Flight-speeds seasonal changesin prey. In general, the adults of hawks and crows. Auk 601487-492. seem to stay in the breeding areasas long as food CANADA,SERVICE DE L’ENVIRONNEMENTATMOSPH&U- permits, thus gaining the maximum time for QUE. 1982. Canadian climate normals, 195l- breeding (Newton 1979: 183). Although our 1980 = Normales climatiques au Canada, 195l- 1980. Vol. 2. Temperature = Temperature. Golden Eagles arrive at their breeding grounds Downsview, Ont.: Programme climatologique when bodies of water are still frozen, the presence canadien. of caribou carcassesand migrant Ptarmigan might DESM~T,K. D. 1987. 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