Bald Eagle Use of Agricultural Project Areas in Minnesota and Iowa: Where We See Eagles and Where We Don't

HDR conducted bald eagle monitoring surveys at three proposed wind energy facilities, following USFWS guidelines, between 2014 and 2016. Projects were located in Central Minnesota, Southeast Minnesota and Southeast Iowa. A... [ view full abstract ]

HDR conducted bald eagle monitoring surveys at three proposed wind energy facilities, following USFWS guidelines, between 2014 and 2016. Projects were located in Central Minnesota, Southeast Minnesota and Southeast Iowa. A total of 62 survey points are distributed across the three sites, with each point surveyed for 60 minutes each month. Very few observations of bald eagles were made during these surveys. One hundred one (101) eagle flight minutes were documented within 800 meters of survey points over the course of the 30,120 survey minutes completed by publication. HDR investigates these eagle flight observations in relation to distance to nearest nest, distance to open water, if the points were within an active territory, land use surrounding survey points and the season during which observations were made.