According to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states has grown since 2009 from just over 72,000, including about 30,000 breeding pairs, to about 316,700 birds. that Home Secretary Deb Haaland recently called “a truly historic conservation achievement.”

At the turn of the 20th century, New York City was home to more than 70 bald eagle nesting pairs and was wintering grounds for several hundred. But in 1960, there was only one breeding pair left and a few dozen of them were wintering here. Today however, thanks to protection and active management, New York State is home to more than 426 occupied bald eagle nesting sites. (Source: New York Natural Heritage Program; a partnership between the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

THE AMERICAN EAGLE

The bald eagle; the only eagle unique to North America; is among the largest raptors found on the continent; measuring about 30 inches in height and sporting a wingspan of six to seven feet. Because their bones are hollow and much lighter than those of mammals, and most of their size resides in their feathers, bald eagles weigh only 8 to 14 pounds; making them significantly lighter than they appear.

They can live 30 years or more in the wild. Pairs mate for life, selecting nesting territories that they use throughout their lives; most often within 250 miles of the area into which they flew. They frequently return to the same nest year after year, producing one or two young per year. The nests are usually located high above the ground, in tall, living white pines growing at or near the water’s edge.

EAGLE LIFE CYCLE

In New York, the young fledge around mid to late summer, around 12 weeks old. At 20 weeks, they are largely independent. While courting, a pair of bald eagles lock their talons together at high altitudes, then fall in free fall; tumbling down to the earth below, eventually breaking their hold on each other as they approach the ground.

As winter sets in and our lakes and rivers freeze over, many bald eagles nesting in our region begin their migration to freshwater areas or to the Atlantic coast. They ride columns of rising air, called thermals, up to altitudes of up to 10,000 feet, spiraling as they ascend. As the updraft decreases, they choose their direction and hover straight ahead, reaching speeds of 30-35 mph in a controlled descent, lower and lower, until they encounter another thermal updraft and start to climb again. ascend.

In 1782, when the bald eagle was declared the national symbol of America, hundreds of thousands of them were living across the continent. But they were hunted for sport and for their feathers, which were used in commerce. The federal government, believing eagles to be a threat to livestock, gave bounties to bald eagles and golden eagles. And, as the human population grew, essential food sources (waterfowl and fish) were depleted. Hunting and harvesting continued until the Bald Eagle Protection Act, which prohibited the slaughter or sale of bald eagles, was enacted in 1940.

NUMBER DOWN

However, their numbers continued to decline, mainly due to the use of the now banned pesticide DDT, which spread through waterways and accumulated in the fatty tissues of fish. Eagles ingesting contaminated fish either became sterile or laid eggs with shells so fragile that they fractured under the weight of the incubating adults. In the mid-1960s, barely 400 bald eagle nesting pairs survived in the 48 contiguous states. None lived in upstate New York.

Bald eagles living south of the 40th parallel have been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. With the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, bald eagles in Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin have been designated as threatened; not in danger.

In 1976, in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Dr Tom Cade of the Cornell University Ornithology Laboratory, a team of DEC specialists set out to repopulate New York State with bald eagles. ; a process known as “hacking”. The team placed pre-flown eaglets, obtained from the wild in other states, in cages on nesting platforms within the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, just north of Cayuga Lake, where they took them. fed and watched from blinds, so that young eagles do not. lose their fear of humans. Once their feathers were fully developed, they were allowed to fly away. In 1980, the first two eagles released at Montezuma were found nesting near Watertown. They hatched two eaglets and took one.

In 1981, Peter Nye, a DEC eagle biologist, brought eaglets from the Alaskan wilderness to New York City to release them to the Adirondacks. Hacking towers have been established at the southern end of Follensby Pond, east of Tupper Lake, in an area previously known to be an eagle nesting site.

SUCCESS

New York’s bald eagle restoration program was successfully completed in 1989 and their numbers have continued to increase. The bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list in 2007.

Golden eagles once also nested in the Adirondacks in small numbers. According to the DEC, there are still a few breeding pairs in eastern Canada. They are sometimes seen in upstate New York on their fall and spring migrations. Juvenile bald eagles are sometimes mistakenly identified as immature golden eagles.

Incidentally, the word “bald” in bald eagle is a shorthand for the word “magpie,” which means spotted or patched, especially in black and white.

If you see someone harassing or hurting an eagle, or if you see the eagle habitat being destroyed or find an eagle injured or dead, please report it immediately to the DEC Wildlife Diversity Unit. in Albany, by calling 518-402-8920.

Richard L. Gast, Educator of the extension program II: Horticulture, natural resources, energy; Agricultural program assistant (retired); Franklin County Cornell Co-op Extension. 355 West Main St., Suite 150, Malone, 12953. Call 483-7403, fax 483-6214 or email [email protected]