Pennsylvania’s bald eagle population continues to grow
HARRISBURG – As America prepares to celebrate 226 years of independence on the Fourth of July, Pennsylvanians will do so knowing that the nation’s symbol of freedom, the bald eagle, is thriving within their state’s borders. A recent Pennsylvania Game Commission survey of bald eagle nests in the state turned up a preliminary total of 63 known nests, up from 55 in 2001. In 2000, eagles had 48 nests. The state’s nesting population has increased more than 150 percent over the past five years. As recently as the 1970s, there was only one nest (at Pymatuning Lake) in Penn’s Woods.
“It’s a great feeling knowing that bald eagles are flourishing once again in the Commonwealth,” noted Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Vern Ross. “This magnificent bird has always excited Americans and now it serves as living proof that wildlife management can rescue endangered species from the brink of extirpation. It is a success story that continues to provide new and better chapters annually and one that all Pennsylvanians should be proud of.
“But the bald eagle means so much more to all of us. Its very existence symbolizes American resolve and strength. Its presence reminds us of the sacrifices countless Americans have made to protect our country and its national interests. The bald eagle is a survivor, a vital and irreplaceable part of our great outdoors, a true American.”
The bald eagle’s comeback is no accident. It’s the result of improving environmental conditions since the banning of DDT, a pesticide that nearly wiped out the species along with ospreys and peregrine falcons in the 1950s and ’60s, and bald eagle reintroduction efforts involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Canadian provinces and state fish and wildlife agencies, including the Game Commission, which has managed the commonwealth’s wildlife for more than 100 years. Also, federal mandates in the early 1990s requiring all waterfowl hunters to use non-toxic shot greatly reduced secondary lead poisoning in eagles.
The bald eagle was selected by Congress as our national emblem on June 20, 1782. It was a decision supported by a majority of young America’s statesmen, with the exception of one from Philadelphia. Ben Franklin preferred the wild turkey.
The growth rate of Pennsylvania’s nesting eagle population has slowed somewhat over the past three years. The largest population increases occurred from 1997 to 1999, when the population increased from 23 to 43 nests.
“Pennsylvania’s eagle population continues to soar to new heights,” Game Commission Biologist Dan Brauning said. “The growth rate has continued at 12 to 14 percent per year for several years. We can expect to see the population grow until eagles saturate the habitat available to them. And, from what nesting eagles are showing us, Pennsylvania still has plenty to offer.
“We used to believe that eagles preferred to nest exclusively in secluded, wilderness-like areas where disturbances were rare. Lately, though, they’ve been nesting close to busy boat traffic areas on Raystown Lake and near state highways, by the Harrisburg International Airport, and practically over a summer cottage where there is plenty of human activity. Eagles today seem more tolerant of people than they have been in a long, long time. But the species also is receiving more protection and management assistance now than it has ever before.”
One of the more surprising nests started by eagles was at Green Lane Reservoir, a public water supply dam in Montgomery County near Red Hill. The nest marks the first time eagles have nested in Montgomery County in more than 100 years. The nesting pair failed to produce chicks this spring, which is somewhat common among first-year nesters. The birds are expected to return to the reservoir next winter to give it another try.
Other new eagle nests were found on Lake Arthur at Moraine State Park in Butler County and on Frances E. Walter Dam on the Carbon and Luzerne county line near White Haven. Overall, eagles now nest in 23 Pennsylvania counties.
The state’s largest eagle nest concentrations are still in western Crawford County, where there are 14 nests, and along the lower Susquehanna River, where there are 10. But Pike County’s nesting population is growing fast. This year, Pike has six nests. As recently as 1992, the county had only one nest.
Three eagle chicks born earlier this year in a nest on the Game Commission’s Haldeman Island – near the confluence of the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, about 20 miles north of Harrisburg – were found dead by Land Management Officer Steve Bernardi, who routinely monitors the activity at the well-established nest. The nest, one of the mid-state’s most consistent producers in recent years, was not damaged, nor have the adult birds exhibited any health problems. The young birds are believed to have been lost to poisoning, likely from eating contaminated food brought by the parents.
“The event at the Haldeman’s Island nest was a first in the 12 years I’ve worked for the Game Commission,” Brauning noted. “We’ve had young fall out of nests, nests fall out of trees, trees fall down, but never have we found three young dead in a nest. We suspect they died from poisoning. It’s pretty improbable that all three died at once from sickness or disease. Predation also seems unlikely because the remains of all three chicks were in the nest.”
Jerry Hassinger, Wildlife Diversity supervisor for the Game Commission’s Bureau of Wildlife Management, noted that the agency likely will never determine what happened to the young eagles.
“Necropsies on remains failed to provide any conclusive answers,” Hassinger said. “In the realm of speculation, long term food contamination or a little poisoning at a time seldom results in simultaneous deaths. These three chicks apparently died within a relatively short period of time. If it was poisoning, it probably came from one ‘hot’ prey item. What and from where we may never know. Secondary poisoning can’t be excluded.”
At the Game Commission’s Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, in Lancaster and Lebanon counties near Kleinfeltersville, a pair of eagles produced three young for the second time. The first time this occurred at Middle Creek was in 2000. The pair was on track to accomplish this feat last year until crows pilfered two of the eggs.
Bald eagles inhabit aquatic ecosystems. They weigh seven to 11 pounds and have a 6- to 7-foot wingspan. The distinctive white head and tail do not blossom until the bird is four to five years old.
Pennsylvania’s bald eagle reintroduction began in 1983, when agency employees flew to Saskatchewan, Canada, and received permission to remove 12 eaglets from nests. Once in Pennsylvania, the eaglets were placed in elevated nesting structures – called hack boxes – on Haldeman Island in Dauphin County and near Shohola Falls in Pike County. The seven-year project, which was financed by the Richard King Mellon Foundation of Pittsburgh and the federal Endangered Species Fund, eventually led to the release of 88 Canadian eagles in Penn’s Woods. The reintroduction was buoyed by improving water quality and other environmental conditions; increased law enforcement efforts targeting wildlife black market operations; and eagle reintroductions in neighboring states.