by: Larissa Smith, CWF Senior Biologist
It’s always a good day when we get a resighting of a NJ banded eagle, especially if it was one that had a transmitter attached. On November 1st, 2022 “Oran” was resighted in Stone Harbor, Cape May County, NJ by John Kauterman. This is about 22 miles from where he had fledged along the Delaware Bay in Cumberland County in 2015.
On May 18th, 2015 a remote eagle nest on the Delaware Bay was visited by biologists with the NJ Bald Eagle Project, from both the NJ ENSP & CWF. There were two eight week old chicks in the nest both and we banded both. The male, banded NJ Green band E-17, was outfitted with a transmitter and he was named “Oran”.
Oran fledged on June 4th and we were able to follow his movements on NJ Eagle Trax as he moved around southern New Jersey, Maryland and took a trip up to Maine in 2016. In November 2016 his intact transmitter was found in a harvested corn field in Maryland. We do not know what happened, but it’s possible the backpack harness came loose and Oran pulled it off. At that time we could hope that Oran had survived. Then on March 24th, 2020 Oran was resighted in Port Mahone, Delaware by Dwayne Ragin. At the time he was five years old and just reached maturity. More details and photos can be found in the blog (Eagle Trax Update)
Oran is almost eight years old, at this age he is most likely in a nesting pair or looking to set up a territory. We will keep our eyes open for green banded eagles in the known local nesting pairs. It would be wonderful to know that “Oran” is nesting in Southern Jersey.
Tags: 2022, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, Eagles, NJ, raptor, wildlife
What an uplifting sequel to Oran’s story! It would be so cool if someone discovered Oran and a mate nesting somewhere in south Jersey! Stories like this give me hope that someday, somewhere our boy Duke will be spotted and photographed. Recall Duke, E/88, was banded in 2019 and also fitted with a transmitter which tracked him in central Jersey until the solar panel apparently failed last April (2022) and his transmitter went “dark”. Oran is beautiful!