On May 5th DGIF Nongame and Watchable Wildlife along with Agency Outreach staff were at the Norfolk Botanical Garden for the banding and transmitter fitting of nestling bald eagles by researchers at the Center for Conservation Biology.
In order to provide the public with an exceptional view of these activities while maintaining an environment that minimized disturbance to the birds, staff from DGIF’s Information and Education section were present to document the event close-up with photo and video. The bald eagles at the Norfolk Botanical Garden are part of a unique partnership between the DGIF, the Norfolk Botanical Garden, and WVEC Channel 13. This partnership brings the viewing public the Eagle Cam – an up close look into the daily lives of these birds. Viewers from around the world, including many Virginia School Children “tune in” to the Eagle Cam every day as part of their studies in science, ecology and life cycles. WVEC provided a second webcam for the day which provided a great view of the event. The camera was operated by DGIF Watchable Wildlife staff who provided ongoing narration and commentary of the work along with the researchers from CCB (The Center for Conservation for Biology at William & Mary).
CCB was performing this work as part of the ongoing research efforts study bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay region. These efforts complement those of DGIF whose eagle conservation work within the commonwealth includes a variety of monitoring, tracking and management activities. Conservation partnerships such as this help ensure the continued recovery of bald eagles.