Tamarac Eagles

Our eagle productivity flight was on July 7, which was a little later than what we normally like for conducting our productivity survey, but that was the earliest our pilot was available.  It appeared our number of occupied territories as well as active nests is about average but our productivity (0.71 young/active nest) is down from the recent average (1.23 young/active nest).  It is possible that several eaglets may have fledged just prior to our survey, thus, lowering our productivity estimate. It is also likely that windstorms may have had some effect this year, as well. 
By the end of the
season, we were able to determine that there were 21 active nests, and that two nests blew down this year sometime after hatching, but prior to fledging.  A total of 15 eaglets fledged from the refuge.

Tamarac Trumpeter Swans

Trumpeters continue to do well as we have again set a record productivity.
A total of 75 cygnets were produced from 13 pairs.  A total of 17 breeding pairs/nests were documented by refuge biologists Lowell Deede and Wayne
Brininger this year, but four nests failed to produce cygnets.
Tamarac continues to be one of the premier Trumpeter Swan production sites in the lower 48 states.

Reprinted from Tamarac Highlights, Autumn 2005