MEQUON, Wis. -- Bald eagle fans have something to celebrate: the first recorded successful nesting of the species in southeastern Wisconsin in more than a century.
Owen Boyle, an ecologist with the state Department of Natural Resources, said he confirmed the birth when he watched the nest for an hour and saw the eaglet's head pop into view.
"We spotted the eaglet a few days ago," said Don Edwards, who lives along the Lake Michigan shore and has been observing the nest with high-powered binoculars.
He said Thursday he's certain there is one eaglet but he can't say at this point whether there might be two.
According to Edwards, the egg likely hatched April 9 because of changes in the behavior of the adults at that time.
"After April 9, the adult on the nest was frequently standing up and looking down at something while the other eagle perched close to the nest and didn't fly away as much," he said.
The rim of the nest had concealed the young eagle until it grew big enough to be seen, Edwards said.
Boyle urged people not to try to find or observe the eagles because disturbances could make the adults abandon the nest, which would kill the eaglet.
"Now, the eaglet has only down feathers, and it is not well-insulated against extreme weather," Boyle said.
Bald eagle numbers have been rising steadily in Wisconsin, but the species remains protected under federal law.
The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act includes provisions making it a crime to harass them or harm a nest.
A Department of Natural Resources survey found Wisconsin last year had 1,065 pairs of nesting bald eagles, and at least 1,182 eaglets were observed, but the closest to Milwaukee was at the Horicon Marsh.
Another pair of eagles has nested this spring in the Milwaukee area.
That nest is near Big Muskego Lake in Waukesha County and is believed to have produced at least one egg, but no eaglet has yet been seen there.
According to the Department of Natural Resources, bald eagles disappeared from southern Wisconsin by about 1875.