Last year in mid-Sept Matt was trapping when a Golden Eagle landed on the pigeon but when he went to pull the trigger for the trap, it didn't go b/c it had been set wrong by a visiting trapper. Thus, Matt had to chase the eagle off the pigeon (no other way to catch it at this point) and lose 'his' first catch of a Golden (something all hawk-trappers hope will eventually happen - I'm still waiting ;-).
Thus, I was very psyched for Matt when I got his text/picture message rubbing it in when he caught the bird on a very windy Wednesday (I was off the mountain at this point) b/c if anyone was gonna catch a Golden this year, Matt deserved it.
Look at the size of this bird!!! - a probable second-year (one-year-old) Golden Eagle captured and banded @ Lucky Peak on Wed, Sept 30Congratulations Matt! ... and let's hope that now that it has a uniquely-numbered band, one day this bird is recovered somewhere else to help us learn more about Golden Eagle movements (see this link to get a sense for where the raptors we've caught/banded have come from/gone to).
2 comments:
whoa, that map is awesome. I want one for songbirds!
Yeah, Matt! What an awesome catch!
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