Iowa's Famous Eaglets

[Cyndi B.]

They found a second Eaglet dead by electrocution. It had a tracking device on it that went dead but they were able to locate it's body under a power pole near a town by Charles City. It's body will be donated for parts to be used in Native American Religious Ceremonies.

[Kevin A]

Since they don't tag them all, do you know which hatch year this young eagle was from? I know that they repaired the electrical pole near Decorah when one was found there. I guess the number of eagles around now will lead the power company to examine more poles for bird friendly updates. Sorry to hear about this latest fatality.

[Cyndi B.]

Last years hatch. Down to one and they are planning to do more poles around the hatchery with a fund raiser. They say it is a real hazard with large birds and power poles. Probably would not have been an issue with my dad. He was more POed by farmers burning ditches and lighting his poles on fire.

[DonDeutsch]

Sorry but I don't have the background on Iowa ealgets. Do you not have many in Iowa? It sounds like you are talking about a reintroduction program Eagles have recovered really well in Minnesota.

[Kevin A]

There are many more eagles now in Iowa, too, but these eaglets have been followed by thousands of people on the web thanks to cameras placed in the nests and tracking devices. They have become almost family to many followers/watchers.

[Cyndi B.]

I hope we get to watch them again this year unless they decide to use the new nest.

[David Tilston]

I used to be a power lineman. Large bird fatalities are a common occurrence. Their wing span is wider then the separation between the lines, and even at the local distribution voltages, (14.4KV phase to ground, 25KV phase to phase) an arc can jump about 4 inches. Not much can be done to prevent this, other then rebuilding all the power lines with a much wider separation between the wires, and extra insulation on all the switching structures. All this would lead to a higher power bill.
The office I worked in had an amateur taxidermist who worked there. The reception area was full of eagles, hawks, and owls.

[CindyL]

This is the second eaglet from this clutch (Is that the right word?) that was electrocuted. The high school industrial arts class responded by working with the power company to build a higher cross beam for the eagles to perch on near the trout hatchery where the nest is so they stay away from the power lines when they perch on the pole.

In my opinion, this should be required. In the absence of requiring this, it seems like a great activity for more industrial arts classes to do. This kind of ending is tragic.

CindyL