Earlier this year I wrote about a Golden Eagle that had been rescued from a trap in southwestern Wisconsin, then fitted with a radio transmitter before being released. The bird is named Whitey, for its lighter-than-usual head feathers. Whitey is the main participant in an effort to learn where the Golden Eagles that winter in southwestern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota spend the summer. Whitey has spent his summer in far northern Canada, above the Arctic Circle. Most recently the bird has spent its time on the west side of Lake Franklin, northwest of Hudson Bay. He seems to have settled down lately, moving shorter distances each day. Hunting must be good there. Project coordinators are waiting for the bird to begin migration, usually a November movement. They hope he returns to his Wisconsin-MInnesota wintering grounds. The project is a joint effort of the Minnesota DNR non-game division, the Wisconsin DNR, the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge, and Audubon Minnesota. The Golden Eagle pictured is not Whitey.
