The National Aviary, in collaboration with the Powdermill Avian Research Center and the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune in Quebec and with State Wildlife Grant funding from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, has embarked on a program to study the migration patterns of golden eagles in the Appalachian region of eastern North America, and the risk that these migrating birds may encounter from development of wind power sites in the Appalachian region

In collaboration with our colleagues in Canada, we are outfitting golden (and sometimes bald) eagles with high-technology tracking devices. These new generation devices are solar powered and if operating properly can last up to three years. The devices obtain GPS quality location fixes and then transmit a data packet with multiple locations via a remote system. These fixes are accurate to within a few meters. In addition to GPS location data, we also get data on instantaneous flight speed and flight elevations.