In the summer of 2007, in a joint project with the U.S. Department of Defense, CCB initiated one of the largest eagle tracking projects in the world. Using GPS transmitters, the project was designed to record movements throughout the Chesapeake Bay and beyond in an effort to understand how eagles use the landscape and how they relate to humans.

To date, transmitters have recorded approximately 800,000 GPS locations and are revealing patterns of movement throughout eastern North America. Night locations have been used to delineate more than 200 communal roosts within the Chesapeake Bay and have supported previous CCB research that has identified concentration areas for non-breeding eagles.

In the long term, information gained from these birds will help us to better understand eagle ecology and how to better manage this species within an increasingly human-dominated landscape. Tracking maps for all 70 eagles may be accessed on www.wildlifetracking.org.

Flight paths of two eagles migrating to the Chesapeake Bay. Northern migrants utilize the Bay in winter and southern migrants in summer. Migration routes were tracked with GPS transmitters.