(Editor’s note: Jack Spaulding is temporarily not authoring this column, as he is recovering from illness. We expect him to be back on the job sometime in the coming weeks; in the meantime, this column will be a collation of outdoors, hunting, fishing and related briefs that are in line with Jack’s usual slate of topics.)

 

A 29-year-old bald eagle, one of the original eagles brought to Indiana in the 1980s as part of a restoration program, has been spotted again at Monroe Lake.

Bald eagle C43 is the oldest known wild eagle in Indiana. She arrived in 1988 as a nestling from Whitestone Harbor, Alaska. Biologists brought C43 and 72 other eaglets to Indiana to start the bald eagle restoration program, which released young eagles at Monroe Lake with the hope that they would return to Indiana to nest.

C43 may still be nesting at Monroe Lake, according to Amy Kearns, assistant nongame bird biologist with the DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife.

C43 is the number on a leg band that helps scientists and wildlife watchers identify the bird.

“This bird may be one of the top 10 oldest wild bald eagles in the United States, with only seven other banded eagles reported living to 29 years or more,” Kearns said.

The latest sighting was on June 24 at Monroe Lake by Stuart Forsythe, who spotted C43 in the Middle Fork Wildlife Area. Stuart captured photos showing the C43 leg band by using a highquality camera with a long lens.

Bald eagles were on the state and federal endangered species list when Indiana began its reintroduction program in 1985. By 2016, there were an estimated 250-300 eagle nesting territories in Indiana, with 179 bald eagle nests confirmed active.

The bald eagle reintroduction program was the first endangered species restoration project initiated by DNR nongame wildlife staff. This project and ongoing research is possible because of donations to the Indiana Nongame Fund, the main funding source of all nongame and endangered species research and management.

In 2016 and 2017, the Nongame Fund experienced a nearly 60 percent decline in donations compared to the long-term average.

Hoosiers can help by donating a portion of their tax returns to the fund or by donating online. For every $5 donated to the Nongame Fund, another $9 is awarded through federal grants.

Donate online at endangeredwildlife.IN.gov

More information is at wildlife. IN.gov/3316.htm Peregrine falcons thriving in Indiana Indiana’s breeding population of peregrine falcons remains productive, according to DNR’s nongame bird 

biologist.

This spring the DNR banded 40 chicks, up from 32 in 2016, according to biologist Allisyn Gillet of the Division of Fish & Wildlife. Chicks were banded in East Chicago, Fort Wayne, Gary, Indianapolis, Michigan City, Petersburg, South Bend, Terre Haute and Wheatfield.

The number of falcons hatched this year in Indiana is likely even higher. Some of the known nest sites are inaccessible to biologists, and it is possible that nest sites exist that have yet to be discovered, Gillet said.

In Indiana, peregrine falcons nest in urban and industrial settings on manmade structures. At some known nest sites, biologists have built a nest box to provide the birds with additional cover. During falcon recovery efforts in the 1970s, scientists discovered that skyscrapers and other tall structures mimic the peregrine’s natural cliff-side habitat.

“Peregrine falcons do not typically build a nest,” Gillet said. “Historically, they created a scrape on the ledge of a cliff and laid eggs there.”

DNR biologists monitor peregrine falcon nesting every year, banding most young falcons with leg identification tags to help monitor movement and survival. Biologists credit building managers and volunteers with supporting the program.

“Once again, building and plant managers throughout the state were cooperative in allowing access for banding at nest boxes,” John Castrale, retired nongame bird biologist said.

“Volunteers were invaluable in monitoring nesting, identifying adults and keeping young falcons out of harm’s way.”

Once threatened with extinction in North America, peregrine falcons represent one of the most successful restoration stories in the 40 years of the Endangered Species Act. Their recovery resulted in their removal from the federal endangered species list in 1999. In 2013, they were removed from the state endangered species list and are considered a species of special concern.

A half-century ago, habitat loss and decreased reproduction resulting from use of pesticides, such as DDT, put peregrine falcons in peril of surviving as a species. By 1965, no peregrine falcons nested east of the Mississippi River, and western populations had declined by 90 percent.

Efforts to study, breed and restore peregrine populations began in the 1970s.

Indiana started its peregrine falcon reintroduction project in 1991, and by 1994 the DNR had released 60 young falcons in Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and South Bend.

The number of nesting pairs in the state has slowly increased. Nest sites are located on buildings, under bridges, on smokestacks along the Lake Michigan shoreline, and at power plants.

 

Muskies are homebodies in Indiana’s Lake Webster Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, there’s no place like home for muskies in Lake Webster.

DNR biologists say muskies, a large predatory fish, show some affinity to  general areas at the 774-acre lake.

Their assessment is based on recapture locations of tagged muskies caught each spring during egg-taking operations.

“We’ve been following the fate of hundreds of tagged muskies in Lake Webster for the past 12 years,” said Jed Pearson, DNR fisheries biologist. “Many of them are caught over and over again, so we’re learning a lot about where they go during spawning season.”

Now mind you, Pearson can’t say where you can catch a muskie, but he can tell you a little about their behavior. He gleaned the information from muskies tagged with PIT-tags, the same kind imbedded in cats and dogs for pet owners.

Biologists caught nine muskies this spring that were tagged years ago. They when looked up where they had caught those fish before. Seven were caught in the same general areas where they were caught previously.

“We caught a 34-inch female in 2011 in the Backwater, a large marsh at the south end of Webster,” Pearson said. “We caught her again 2014 and in 2015 – also in Backwater. By then she was 42 inches long.” 

 

Biologists caught her again this year. Where? Backwater of course. This time the fish was 44 inches long, having grown 10 inches during the past six years.

Likewise, a 32-inch male muskie first caught in 2010 appeared to ramble more but still had a regular hangout.

“We caught this fish five times between 2010 and 2017,” Pearson said. “Twice we found it in Backwater and twice off the island in the main lake. In 2013 we caught

him in the channel between the two.”

In contrast to the female, the male muskie grew only 4 inches longer over the seven-year period. Several studies have shown male muskies grow slower than females.

In 1998 and 1999, Pearson conducted a muskie tracking study at Webster using tiny radio-transmitters to follow their seasonal movements.

“We saw the same thing back then,” he said. “A big female spent much of the year in the main lake but went back to Backwater for spawning. I guess there is no place like home.”