The National Eagle Center is pleased to announce a joint partnership with Audubon Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Non-game, and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to further study the wintering population of Golden Eagles in our area.

For NEC staff member Scott Mehus, this is a dream come true!!

Many of you may know that Scott has been watching Golden Eagles for over fourteen years in the River Valley, and actively studying them for over ten years. Through his pioneering work, other birders, citizens and researchers are realizing the numbers of Golden Eagles that spend the winter in this area.

For the last five years Scott has been organizing a count that he began called the Wintering Golden Eagle Survey of the Bluffs and Coulee Region of the Upper Mississippi River Watershed, and on the January 19, 2008 survey, 67 volunteers helped to count over 60 Golden Eagles in Southeast Minnesota, Western Wisconsin and Northeast Iowa.  This work has inspired agencies to join together to study where these birds come from (breeding territories), habitat use while here, prey requirements, migration timing and route, and hopefully prove pair fidelity while on the winter territory that has been witnessed by Scott.

To fully understand all the above goals, the partners will live trap 2 Golden Eagles in the winter of early 2009.  These birds will then be fitted with a satellite radio and GPS tracking device and released so that we can investigate the above stated goals. We plan for a three year project, with two Golden Eagles trapped each year.

This will also be a great first opportunity for the NEC to be involved with a major research project. The data collected will be important as an educational resource for all at the NEC to disseminate.

If you have questions about this study, please feel free to contact Scott Mehus at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

top photo: Richard Bartz - Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5