• Home
  • About
  • Calendar
  • Plant Database
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Board of Trustees Login

Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest

Become a Member Donate
  • Plan Your Visit
  • Trails and Maps
  • Programs and Events
  • Learn
  • Get Involved
You are here: Home / In the News / Romance at Bernheim? Female golden eagle being tracked with Harper

February 6, 2019 by Amy Joseph Landon

Romance at Bernheim? Female golden eagle being tracked with Harper

Source: WHAS
February 6, 2019

CLERMONT, Ky. — A rare, female eastern golden eagle was captured briefly and tagged with a transmitter at Bernheim Forest.

Bernheim Executive Director Dr. Mark Wourms says, “Eleven, twelve pounds, so think about the weight of a turkey Thanksgiving and then put a 7-foot wingspan on that.”

On February 2 they were able to track her for her first flight around Bernheim.

Wourms points out, “They use thermals to go up, and then they glide for miles down all while hunting at the same time.”

Why are they so excited about this golden eagle? Andrew Berry, Bernheim Forest Manager, says, “This would be the first project in eastern North America where you actually have a pair being tracked together.”

She arrived from Canada in November 2018 with the male golden eagle named Harper that they’ve been tracking for four years. WHAS11 has reported extensively on Harper’s amazing migration, leaving Bernheim every March, but coming back in the fall. The public named him in a contest.

So, is a love story now developing at Bernheim?

We will know soon. Berry says, all thanks to the tracking devices, “How they’re flying together, maybe hunting together but also when they get up there on the nest, how do they divide up the time between the female sitting on the nest and the male foraging?”

She weighs 12 pounds, more than the males and Berry says for this reason, “The females need to be larger to protect  the nest while the male is out hunting.”

Bernheim Forest is holding a naming contest for the female golden eagle.

The choices:

1)    Goldie:   for the beautiful golden feathers on crown of her head.

2)    Athena:  the Greek goddess of wisdom, courage and inspiration.

3)    Persephone:   Great goddess of weather changes, the seasons.

Vote here by Wednesday, February 13.

Bernheim is open to the public Monday-Sunday, Clermont KY exit 112 off I-65 south.

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: golden eagle, Research

  • Let There Be Light, George Grey Bernard

Thank you to our Corporate Partners!


Thank you to our Corporate Partners!

  • GE Appliances
  • WMB
  • Delta Dental KY
  • Quest Outdoors
  • Beam Suntory
  • Brown Forman
  • Westrock
  • Luckett & Farley
  • Patagonia

Sign up for our newsletter

  • Sign up and receive special information about our programs and events.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

FOLLOW US

Copyright © 2019 Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest    |   Bernheim is an Arbnet level 4 certified garden
Privacy Policy | Policies and Guidelines | Research | Press Room  | Site Map