Climber Jim Spickler in a nest on the Apostle Islands, approximately 68 feet above the island. Unfortunately this nest did not have any eaglets in it, but showed recent signs of the adults working on the nest. - FWS photo by Glenn Miller

Logan Route, volunteer with the Great Lakes Network Office, holds an eaglet that has had the completed work up and is ready to be placed in a bag to raise back to the nest. - Courtesy photo by Mark Hart, GLNO

For the second year in a row, the R/V Chub proved to be the best working platform for personnel from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Ashland Fishery Resources Office and the National Park Services Great Lakes Monitoring Network (GLMN) to get around in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore .

Piloted by FRO Fishery Biologist Glenn Miller, the crew consisting of GLMN Project Leader Bill Route and tree climber Jim Spickler was able to assess nests at three islands within the Lakeshore and band three eaglets in nests on two of the islands. 

One of the trees climbed did not contain eaglets, but showed signs of adult eagles using the nest. 

The GLMN is leading a project which is monitoring bald eagles at multiple parks in the upper Midwest. FRO Assistant Project Frank Stone videotaped the procedure at one of the nest to be used in a future production about what happens during a “typical” day at the Ashland FRO.

Active bald eagle nest had been previously located during aerial surveys performed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.  Once the nest trees were pinpointed on the ground, the ascent into the towering white pines began and the eaglets secured.  They were then lowered to the biologists below where an assortment of data was collected and blood drawn to monitor contaminant levels in the young birds. 

Eagles are considered bio-sentinels at the top of the food chain.  The chicks primarily eat fish caught by their parents from the Lake Superior waters surrounding the islands.  Monitoring contaminant levels in the young eagles will give an indication to the overall levels such as mercury and pesticides in the fishery and the ecosystem. 

After the work up was completed the eaglets were then banded and hoisted back into the nest, once again overlooking the amazing sights that are the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.