Bald eagle distribution, abundance, roost use and response to human activity on the northern Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
| dc.contributor.author | Buehler, David A. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeechair | Fraser, James D. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Kirkpatrick, Roy L. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Orth, Donald J. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Stauffer, Dean F. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Nielsen, Larry A. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Smith, Eric P. | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-03-14T21:20:55Z | en |
| dc.date.adate | 2005-10-13 | en |
| dc.date.available | 2014-03-14T21:20:55Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 1990-01-11 | en |
| dc.date.rdate | 2005-10-13 | en |
| dc.date.sdate | 2005-10-13 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | I studied bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) distribution, abundance, roost use and response to human activity on the northern Chesapeake Bay from 1984-89. The eagle population consisted of Chesapeake breeding eagles, Chesapeake nonbreeding eagles, northern-origin eagles and southern-origin eagles; changes in overall eagle distribution and abundance reflected the net changes in these 4 groups. Breeding territories on the northern Chesapeake increased from 12 to 28 from 1984 to 1988. Breeding eagles were resident all year, always ~7 km from the nest. Chesapeake nonbreeding eagles moved throughout most of the bay, but rarely left it (~5% of the radio-tagged eagles were off the bay during any month). Northern eagles migrated into the bay in late fall (x = 21 December! n = 7! range = 61 days) and departed in early spring (x = 27 March, n = 14, range = 43 days). Southern eagles arrived on the northern bay throughout April-August (x = 6 June, n = 11, range = 94 days) and departed from June - October (x = 3 September, n = 22, range = 119 days). Northern Chesapeake eagle abundance peaked twice annually; in winter (261 eagles, December 1987), driven by the presence of northern eagles, and in summer (604 eagles, August 1988), driven by the presence of southern birds. Of 1,117 radio-tagged eagle locations, only 55 (4.90/0) occurred in human-developed habitat, which composed 27.7% of 1,442 km2 of potential eagle habitat on the northern Chesapeake Bay (P < 0.001). During 36 aerial shoreline surveys, eagles were observed on only 111 of 700 (15.9%) 250-m shoreline segments that had development within 100 m, whereas eagles were observed on 312 of 859 (36.30/0) segments when development was absent (P < 0.001). On average, eagles were observed on 1.0 segment/survey that had coincident pedestrian use within 500 m, compared to 3.6 segments/survey expected if eagles and pedestrians were distributed along the shoreline independently (n = 34 surveys, P < 0.001). | en |
| dc.description.degree | Ph. D. | en |
| dc.format.extent | xii, 132 leaves | en |
| dc.format.medium | BTD | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.other | etd-10132005-152501 | en |
| dc.identifier.sourceurl | http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10132005-152501/ | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/39794 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
| dc.relation.haspart | LD5655.V856_1990.B833.pdf | en |
| dc.relation.isformatof | OCLC# 21326326 | en |
| dc.rights | In Copyright | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en |
| dc.subject.lcc | LD5655.V856 1990.B833 | en |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Bald eagle -- Chesapeake Bay Region (Md and Va) | en |
| dc.title | Bald eagle distribution, abundance, roost use and response to human activity on the northern Chesapeake Bay, Maryland | en |
| dc.type | Dissertation | en |
| dc.type.dcmitype | Text | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
| thesis.degree.level | doctoral | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Ph. D. | en |
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