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Officials urge people to report eagle sightings |
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Friday, 04 January 2008 |
By B.J. BETHEL
Assistant Managing Editor
COLUMBUS — The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is encouraging citizens of the state to report eagle sightings until Jan. 15.
The effort is conducted each January in the state as part of a nationwide tally of the bird.
“It's conducted by the federal government with the idea being to figure out how many bald eagles exist,” said Mark Shieldcastle, an official with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. “It done differently in different states. The idea is to get an index so they can look at long term trends and to see if the population is going up or down.”
Bald eagles have been booming in Ohio, including a few that live on the western part of Grand Lake St. Marys.
“It's going up fast,” Shieldcastle said. “The last two years we've been around 500 birds in the state in January. Twenty-five years ago we were lucky to have 10.”
Many factors have played into the booming eagle population. Environmentally, wildlife areas are much cleaner than they were two decades ago. There is less contaminants affecting the reproductive rate of the birds. The bald eagle is also the most protected bird in the world, with a variety of laws passed to insure its survival.
The bird has also been a tough survivor. The bald eagle has been adapting to areas much closer to humans, something the bird wasn't doing several years ago.
“It's nesting in areas that 30 years ago we wouldn't have dreamed of them nesting,” Shieldcastle said. “They are tolerating more intrusions into their territory. That makes for more habitats to be available for them now.”
There were two nests located around Grand Lake St. Marys last year. Shieldcastle said there would probably be more eagles nesting in the area.
“Both nests have been successful the last two years,” Shieldcastle said. “There are more and more of the birds in that part of the state. There is a real potential for the lake to pick up a third nest. There is a real threshold there and we are starting to see a spreading out of birds. It will be interesting to see what they are going to pick up in the winter count.”
Last year there were 480 bald eagles reported in the state, 359 adults and 121 immature birds. There are bald eagles located in 39 of Ohio's 88 counties.
Individuals can participate in the survey by reporting bald eagles sightings to ODNR at the Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station at 419-898-0960.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 January 2008 )
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