Nest territories are essentially equivalent to what are called core-use areas, which are areas used more frequently than any others by wildlife. These areas contain homesites, refuges, and the most dependable food sources. These areas contain homesites, refuges, and the most dependable food sources. Since core-use areas for bald eagles are commonly calculated based on usage pattern for a much larger home range—well beyond visual tracking—telemetry is commonly used. However, the equivalence of core-use areas for nesting eagles can also be reliably determined by careful field studies that integrate geospatial data for perch locations and defended distances against other eagles. These core-use-equivalent areas are defined our studies as nest-territories, and here we’ll discuss how we map them and what they tell us about our territorial bald eagles.

One of the questions many eagle lovers often have is “could that bird be the offspring of the territorial pair of bald eagles?”