New York has conducted annual surveys since 1979 and the highest official winter count occurred in 2008 with 573 bald eagles spotted.
DEC’s preliminary results for 2010 indicate that sightings may exceed this number as regions of the state continue to provide favorable wintering habitat for both New York resident eagles and for Canadian visitors. As of Jan. 31, a total of 459 eagles had been spotted — a pace well ahead of the 2008 record.
“The resurgence of the bald eagle has been one of New York’s most amazing environmental success stories,” DEC Commissioner Peter Grannis said. “This has been due to the tremendous commitment of many DEC staff over the past three decades, and the ongoing cooperation of individuals and communities that recognize the importance of protecting essential habitat bald eagles need to thrive.” The state’s number of wintering and breeding eagles reached its lowest point in 1975, when the state could only document one, unproductive pair. The bird’s decline was spurred by habitat loss, indiscriminate hunting and DDT (a pesticide) contamination.
Soon after, the DEC launched its effort to restore bald eagles to the state. The program, led by DEC biologist Peter Nye, included years of collecting bald eagles from Alaska, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin and transporting and releasing the young birds to carefully selected habitats around the state.
The initial effort began at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in Seneca Falls in 1976 with the placement of two hatchlings (eaglets), a male and female, at the refuge in one artificial nest, said Linda Ziemba, wildlife biologist at the refuge. Those birds came from Wisconsin, she said.
The DEC continued to bring in young birds to Montezuma and elsewhere across the state. In 1980, one of the two eagles released at the refuge in 1976 nested successfully in the Perch River area in northern New York, Ziemba said. With that success and numerous others, it’s been uphill ever since for the bald eagles, she said.
Today, the Montezuma Wetlands Complex boasts six active eagle nests, Ziemba said.
Nye and other DEC staff continue to monitor New York’s growing population and their work has since been emulated by many other states. The state’s Endangered Species Act has also played an essential role in the recovery of bald eagles, as well as other vulnerable species by enabling DEC to protect critical breeding, foraging and migratory habitat.
The bottom line is that pesticides that used to impact the bird’s reproduction have since been banned. In addition, education and environmental awareness has been effective in reducing the number of birds being shot.
Gerry Smith, president of the Onondaga Audubon Society, said he has no doubt that bald eagles are more plentiful these days in this state.
“Bald eagles like water, and we have the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, the Finger Lakes, with lots of pockets of open water during the winter,” he said. “We just have an excellent area of diverse habitat for this species.”
More information about bald eagles in New York State can be found on the DEC web site.
SEEN A BALD EAGLE LATELY? - Email Outdoors Editor David Figura at email@example.com, describing where you spotted the bird (s) and the circumstances. Include your name, where you live and daytime phone number. Figura is writing a story for Friday’s Outdoors page on the best places in CNY to see the birds this winter.