Eagle heading for Minnesota

 Whitey is the Golden Eagle captured in Wisconsin last winter, banded, then released in the spring. Equipped with a tiny radio transmitter, Whitey is part of a research project being carried out jointly by organizations that include the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota, Minnesota Audubon, and the Minnesota DNR. The idea was to track the eagle to learn where it spent its summer, and if it nested (apparently not). Whitey ended up in far northern Canada, west of Hudson Bay. The bird is now moving south, and in a hurry, according to Mark Martel, part of the eagle team and director of Bird Conservation for Audubon Minnesota.  Whitey had flown 926 miles as of Oct. 15. The bird flew 170 miles on its longest one-day flight. At the eagle's present rate, Martel expects the bird to be in Minnesota by early next week. A small number of Golden Eagles winter in southwestern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota. This is where Whitey is expected to arrive for another winter season.