Eagle found dead near Sayner banded as eaglet in 1977
SAYNER, Wis. – The body of what is likely the oldest documented American bald eagle in the upper Midwest was recently found near its nest on an island of a Vilas County lake.
The carcass of the 31-year-old adult female eagle was recovered May 16 on Razorback Lake just north of the village of Sayner. The eagle had a leg band, which Ron Eckstein, a wildlife biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was able to trace back to 1977 through the federal Bird Banding Laboratory at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.
“It is very rare to encounter an eagle that is documented to be this old,” Eckstein said. “Eagles can live long lives and banding studies in Wisconsin and Michigan have documented a very small number of eagles living 25 to 30 years.”
While the cause of death has not been determined, Eckstein said there were no signs of a struggle or any injury marks on the bird.
The eagle was banded on June 25, 1977 by Sergej Postupalsky, who has coordinated extensive eagle banding efforts in Michigan and Wisconsin for many years. It was one of three eaglets in a nest located a quarter mile north of the Wisconsin-Michigan border in the Ottawa National Forest’s Sylvania Wilderness Area. That nest still remains active in a large white pine in the wilderness area.
A DNR fisheries crew conducting an inventory of Razorback Lake in May reported seeing an eagle carcass on the shore of the island. Eckstein recovered the eagle carcass so it could be sent to the DNR wildlife health team at Madison for a necropsy to try to determine the cause of death. After the necropsy, the carcass will be sent to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service so feathers can be distributed to Native Americans.
The bird’s mate or any young it may have been nesting on could not be found. Eagles usually mate for life and should one die the remaining eagle leaves and searches for another partner. Each spring eagle nesting pairs can produce from one to three young.
Wisconsin currently has about 1,200 breeding pairs of eagles. This is up drastically from the 82 pair first counted in a 1970 survey. While it has been taken off the Endangered and Threatened species list, the bald eagle remains protected by state law as a species of special concern, and by the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. DNR biologists continue to monitor eagle nests and people who observe new eagle nests should report the location to a local DNR wildlife biologist.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron Eckstein (715) 365-8999
