Nov 24 2007
Bald Eagle Comeback
The resurgence of the bald eagle in western Pennsylvania is a beautiful thing. Nothing confirms it so well as seeing our newest pair of eagles flying together at Moraine State Park in Butler County. In the photos above, Chuck Tague caught them flying together in a blue sky on November 1 and Steve Gosser captured them building a nest on November 23. They won’t be laying eggs any time soon but they are housekeeping. It looks like this pair will make the lake their home.
As recently as 25 years ago it was almost impossible to find a bald eagle in Pennsylvania. In 1980 there were only three nesting pairs in the entire state - all of them at Pymatuning. Pesticides, especially DDT, accumulated in the eagles’ bodies and made their eggs crack and fail. With no young eagles reaching adulthood, the population declined as the adults died off. It didn’t help that water pollution during that era reduced fish populations, the eagle’s staple food.
In the mid-1980s the PA Game Commission conducted a bald eagle reintroduction program. This year they counted at least 120 nesting pairs in the state. What a great success!
If you want to see these birds, drive the south shore loop of Moraine State Park (park office toward Pleasant Valley) and look for a large dark bird with white head and tail. It helps to have binoculars and patience. It’s a big lake and they could be anywhere.
I read in an article concerning the death of a 7 month old bald eagle in Butler County, PA. The bald eagle had been shot and lived about a week. The Game Commission believes it was deliberate.
The picture of the nest podium looks man made.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had the pleasure of ever seeing a bald eagle.
Love the pictures!
Thanks for the news about the eagle shooting (see
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07332/837355-100.stm)
Immature bald eagles are completely brown so the person who killed this bird may not have known he was shooting at a bald eagle. On the other hand, it is illegal to kill hawks too, so the person who thought he was shooting at ‘a really big hawk’ was breaking the law in either case.
Kate,
I wonder whether the eagles Steve Gosser found and photographed putting sticks on the Osprey nest are the same pair that we saw a couple of weeks previously, carrying sticks onto a large pine across from the South Shore. Steve says he hasn’t seen any further activity at the South Shore location.
I’d be surprised if they like the Osprey platform site any better, because it has even more — and much closer — human traffic than the site across from the South Shore.
Best regards,
Paul Hess
P.S. Your blog is wonderful.
Wonderful post! This gives me hope that someday I may see a Bald Eagle. They are still not that easy to see. I used to live in Washington Township, next the the reservoir where two purportedly live. I would visit there all the time in hopes of seeing my first wild Bald Eagles *EVER*. Yet I never saw them, there or anywhere else for that matter; AND I AM A BIRDER! It may be a success story, yet in my mind, they are still so rare that to me it seems nearly impossible to see these wonderful birds.
My daughter and I had the thrill of seeing one of the bald eagles flying near our home north of Harmony, shortly before the holiday. It filled us with awe. And knowing that they are so close gives me hope that we will see them again.
Yes! We saw a bald eagle today (May 12, 2008) at Moraine State Park, flying along the north shore by Davis Point. What a beautiful sight!