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Written by Dan Frankian

Created: 05 November 2019

Last Updated: 05 November 2019

Each year, researchers are monitoring North America's largest bird of prey's migratory population above Montana. Decades of migration indicate that the golden eagles that travel have declined here. Hawk Watch International data from a Bozeman research site measured roughly 650 golden eagles per 100 hours of counting in the early 1990s. In 2018, the number of birds researchers counted was less than half that.

Researchers spend weeks on ridge lines this time of year, using pigeons to lure the magestic Golden Eagles, trapping and banding birds, outfitting them with tracking tags and collecting data.
Migrating golden eagles face a unique set of challenges that include habitat loss, car collisions, power line electrocutions, wind turbines, traps and lead poisoning, to name a few. The birds come from as far north as the Brooks Range in Alaska and tagged birds have wintered as far south as Mexico. What exactly is going on is hard to say.

While some Montana researchers say they’re seeing a decline in eagle numbers, other available research from across the West shows the non-migratory population is more stable. The 55th parallel delineates the two populations, with those that breed in harsher northern climates needing to migrate to follow food sources. This potentially puts them in more danger.

Recent reports there may be reason to believe the bird’s dipping migration numbers are stabilizing in Montana. A Hawk Watch report from 2016 says recent counts give "reason for some optimism," with the highest number of golden eagles tallied in the region since 1998.

A healthy golden eagle population often means a healthy ecosystem, or vice versa. So, what is happening with golden eagles could be in fact indicative of the ecosystem as a whole.

Counting time is coming to a close. Researchers are packing up their work site before snow makes it inaccessible. It’s too soon to tell if the migratory golden eagle decline in Montana has stabilized for good. But scientists and conservationists are working to learn what they can from the birds soaring overhead.

In Ontario, breeding Golden Eagles are presently known only from the Hudson Bay Lowland, although there is some evidence suggesting they once nested much further south. Currently there are believed to be 10 to 20 pairs in the province.

Increasing numbers of sub-adult Golden Eagles are spending the summer along the Hudson Bay coast, where they hunt the abundant snow goose at their nesting colonies. The number of Golden Eagles being seen at traditional Ontario hawk migration monitoring stations has increased greatly in the past two decades. In the fall of 2008, several stations on Lake Ontario and Erie reported more than 50 in one day – a number that would have seemed unbelievable even a decade ago.

Previously, the Golden Eagle poplation had suffered from human persecution, such as illegal shooting and trapping, although with improved attitudes toward predators in general, these problems have diminished greatly in recent decades.

Private land owners have a very important role to play in species recovery. If you find a Golden Eagle nesting on your land, you may be eligible for stewardship programs that support the protection and recovery of species at risk and their habitats.

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Written by Dan Frankian

Created: 17 October 2019

Last Updated: 17 October 2019

A typical drone is made of light composite materials to reduce weight and increase maneuverability. This composite material strength allows drones to cruise at extremely high altitudes, absorbing vibration to decrease sound. Especially when using a drone to survey nesting birds of prey, we want to disturb the birds as little as possible.

Drones are equipped with different state of the art technology such as infrared cameras, GPS and laser, depending on the intended use (consumer, commercial or military UAV) as well as a control system. The remote ground control systems (GSC) are also referred to as a ground cockpit.

In Bird and Animal  Wildlife Control, we use mostly VTOL drones. These are generally quadcopters and can take off, fly, hover and land vertically. The exact meaning of VTOL is “Vertical Take-Off and Landing”.

A few of the latest small drones such as the DJI Mavic Air take VTOL to the next level and can be launched from the palm of your hand. Nearly all drones have a Ground Station Controller (GSC) or a smartphone app allowing us to keep track of the current flight telemetry and see what our drone sees in real time. This is accomplished by FPV technology. FPV means “First Person View”. A video camera is mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle and this camera broadcasts the live video to the pilot on the ground.  The ground pilot is flying the aircraft as if they were on-board the aircraft instead of looking at the aircraft from the pilot’s actual ground position.

FPV allows the unmanned aircraft to fly much higher and further than you can from looking at the aircraft from the ground.  First Person View allows for more precise flying especially around obstacles, allowing unmanned aerial vehicles to fly very easily indoors, or through forests and around buildings. The live video feed is related to the strength of the signal between the ground control on the drone. Hawkeye's DJI Mavic 2 has an FPV live video range of 2500m with a 720p quality video transmission.

• Hawkeye's Quadcopter Hawkeye's Quadcopter
• Sophisticated video Sophisticated video
• DJI Mavic Air DJI Mavic Air
• Compact and powerful Compact and powerful
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At Hawkeye, we use drones to evaluate situations or locations otherwise difficult or impossible to access. A good example is communications and utility towers. In order to ensure the safety of technicians working on tower equipment, nesting birds of prey will have to be temporarily removed or distracted. By obtaining video and images from our drones, we can assess the situation and devise a plan before ever having the need for a person to go near the nest.

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Written by Dan Frankian

Created: 11 September 2019

Last Updated: 11 September 2019

OTTAWA, Ontario – Residents in one Canadian community say they’ve noticed local raccoons staggering drunkenly and passing out on the ground in the middle of the day.

Emily Rodgers told CBC News about seeing one apparently inebriated raccoon in her backyard, dragging his legs, wobbling, and having a hard time standing up. "You could tell something was wrong with him for sure."

Another resident, Julie Fong, said her husband saw one of the plastered animals stumbling along, just looking completely off - like somebody who may have had a few extra libations.” Fong thinks it was the same animal her husband spotted lying on the round beam of a fence near their house, its paws dangling. She thinks it later stumbled under their porch to sleep off the bender.

So, what's going on in the Nation's Capital? How come there is a sudden issue with drunkenness amongst raccoons?

The answer is quite innocent, actually; an Ottawa naturalist reckons that raccoons are likely consuming more alcohol than they can handle from fruit fermenting on the ground. Theest thing residents can do is to leave the animals alone. Anyone concerned for the raccoon’s health should call animal control.

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Written by Dan Frankian

Created: 09 September 2019

Last Updated: 19 September 2019

Halifax, Nova Scotia was the location of this year's North American Bird Strike Conference.

The Conference highlights recent developments and ideas on addressing wildlife hazards to aircraft that occur in the airport environment. 

BSC individual presentations, panel discussions and workshops, international and technical sessions provide a forum to professionals to have an open dialogue and creative exchange of ideas; attendees include military and civilian personnel responsible for airfield operations, wildlife and wetlands resource managers, FAA inspectors - including Airports, Air Traffic and Flight Standards, airline and aircraft owners and operators, engineers, pilots, aerospace manufacturers, aviation industry representatives, waste management operators, researchers.. and the list goes on.

Since 2009 Hawkey's Dan Frankian has been a part of the conference. This year, he delivered a presentation on pelllet rifles and their use in bird and wildlife control as it pertains to airports and aviation safety. Dan Frankian is an excellent marksman himself, in fact he is a trained sniper. His talk delved into available 'accessories' such as scopes, blinds, rangefinders to improve shooting accuracy, associated costs, as well as rules about silencers.

The presentation was extremely well received.

Below are some photos from the conference and here is a markup of the presentation on air rifles: 

• Flapping Peregrine Flapping Peregrine
• Solar Sound System Solar Sound System
• Drone Drone
• Peregrine Falcon Drone Peregrine Falcon Drone
• Solar powered Canon Solar powered Canon
• Remote Firing Device Remote Firing Device
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• Swedish Goshawk Trap Swedish Goshawk Trap
• Swedish Goshawk Trap Swedish Goshawk Trap
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