[This story has been updated to correct the sequence of events after the discovery of the eagle.]
Christopher Kiser was walking on his property in the North Fork Travis Creek area of Clancy last month when he found an unusual feather. As he continued his walk, more feathers appeared. The feather trail eventually led to a dead golden eagle.
Kiser notified the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks about the find. After receiving instruction from Jefferson County Game Warden Bill Dawson, he brought it home for further examination. Dawson then arrived to investigate.
What Dawson found was startling: A band on the bird’s leg indicated that the male eagle had hatched in 1991, and had been banded and released by wildlife officials in the Patterson, Idaho region in 1992. At 33 years old, according to the U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory website, it was the oldest known example of the species in the U.S.
“That was pretty interesting,” Dawson told The Monitor. The excitement of the discovery also showed in a flurry of emails between Dawson and state and federal officials after the age record confirmation was made. “A 30+ year-old golden eagle is pretty cool,” wrote Jeff Berglund, a fish and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Dawson said it’s not unusual for both bald and golden eagles to have migratory ranges covering hundreds of miles. “In one case,” he said, “there was a bald eagle banded in Montana and later found in Texas.”
The Bird Banding Laboratory website shows the previous longevity record for a band returned from a golden eagle was 31 years and 8 months. That golden eagle was discovered in Utah in 2012 and had been banded in 1980. Some banded bald eagles have lived to about 38 years old, according to the site.
An examination of the eagle found in Clancy showed the bird had suffered trauma to its neck, but it was unclear whether the eagle had been shot, Dawson noted. The eagle was found in an open area, with no overhead lines or other notable obstructions.
Dawson recalled finding only one other golden eagle in his 20 years of service in the county. That eagle was found in Whitehall.
Dawson cautioned that when a dead animal, especially an eagle, is discovered, it should be reported immediately to wildlife officials because there may be regulations and retrieval processes that need to be followed. Reports of carcass discoveries – or any other potential wildlife issues- can be made to the Montana FWP hotline: 1-800-TIP-MONT.
He noted that Federal and state laws strictly regulate who can possess eagle parts, including feathers. “That is on a strict permit basis for the Native American tribes,” Dawson explained. “We go out and retrieve as much as we can and then send the birds to the [U.S. Fish & Wildlife] repository in Colorado. They salvage as much as they can and send the usable parts to the tribes.”
