The Nature Inn at Bald Eagle State Park in Centre County this past weekend ran its "Nature Inn Weekend Package - Golden Eagle Migration."
The event, which the Nature Inn described as happening "during the peak of the annual golden eagle northern migration," included a visit to the Tussey Mountain Hawkwatch near Pine Grove Mills in Centre County.
Tussey Mountain is the spot in Pennsylvania for observing golden eagles migrating north across Pennsylvania in the spring.
While golden eagles are counted at other hawkwatches, including Hawk Mountain Sanctuary at Kempton and Pennsylvania Audubon's Waggoner's Gap between Carlisle and Landisburg, particularly in the fall, Tussey Mountain counts more.
The single-day record at Tussey Mountain is 62, set on March 3, 2008. The season record is 239, set in spring 2015.
A small population of maybe 5,000 golden eagles breeds in remote areas of northeastern Canada and migrates south to spend the winter in the eastern U.S. The greatest wintering density occurs in the central Appalachian Mountains, particularly in Virginia and West Virginia, but some birds also spend winter in Pennsylvania and all states east of the Mississippi.
And, now those birds are beginning their migration north.
According to watch coordinators at Tussey Mountain, "the best time to see golden eagles is during the first three weeks of March, but the date of the biggest flights depends on weather conditions."
The golden eagles won't generally be seen anywhere in Pennsylvania other than the ridgetops of the Appalachian Mountains and Allegheny Front. Pennsylvanians wanting to see them live will need to travel to one of the hawkwatch sites there.
Another option is an online game cam atop a mountain in Forbes State Forest that's part of the Appalachian Golden Eagle Project, which originated with the National Aviary and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 2006. Through the project, 85 golden eagles have been fitted with transmitters and tracked, revealing that most of the eastern population passes over central Pennsylvania and the Laurel Highlands on migration.
Forbes State Forest has cooperated with Murrysville-based CSE PixController Inc. since 2012 in the operation of a game camera overlooking road-killed deer atop a remote mountaintop in Somerset County. Golden eagles are regular visitors to the site, as recently as Sunday.
Images recorded by the game camera can be seen at the PixController website.
Like the bald eagle, the golden eagle is federally protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Lacey Act.
More about eagles in Pennsylvania:
- Bald eagle nest on Pennsylvania Game Commission nestcam gets second egg
- Bald eagles welcome 2nd egg to Pittsburgh nest
- 3rd egg spotted in Hays bald eagle nest before other Pa. nest cam pairs have any
- Bald eagles in Pennsylvania: You might be surprised by the facts
