An American Bald Eagle Study

…remember back on November 7 when I saw two beautiful American Bald Eagles flying over Caesar Creek Lake? I was so happy to see those two birds flying high in the sky so close to my house. Actually, I was beyond happy. I was ecstatic, awestruck…infatuated even, because it was the first time I had ever seen an American Bald Eagle flying in my town. My infatuation goes all the way back to 1967 when I was in the first grade and the bird was put on the endangered species list. At that time, conservation was huge, and we talked about the American Bald Eagle in school all the time. As a first grader, I knew the American Bald Eagle was threatened, even close to extinction--and we would probably NEVER, EVER see one in the wild—EVER! That was my reality, and that desperation was burned into my brain, and an intense love of the bird grew out of how fragile his stay on the planet was. We all knew about the DDT pesticide poisoning and how it had filtered into the lakes and streams, accumulating in the tissues of the fish the eagles ate, and causing the eagles to produce eggshells so thin they would break under the bird’s weight during incubation. It really was a hopeless and scary time, but…that is not the case anymore!! They are back, doing well, and can be regularly found in several places around Cincinnati!

…the Bald Eagle…is there a more intense looking bird? I love the oversized supraorbital ridge (the boney ridge above the eye) that puts a permanent snarl on his face. It’s really there to block the sun and help eliminate sun glare so he has an easier time hunting, but boy, oh boy, does it ever make him (and all hawks) look tough!

...the American Bald Eagle is my mom's favorite bird...this post is for you, mom!

An American Bald Eagle soaring over the water at at Caesar Creek State Park, Nov 7, 2009.

Beak Bit

A timeline of the American Bald Eagle's recovery in Ohio
To check on these dates, I went to my copy of Bruce G. Peterjohn’s, The Birds of Ohio. With such an amazing come-back story, it’s so cool knowing that a bird put on the endangered species list over 40 years ago is now living and breeding in our town!

Because the American Bald Eagle can live up to 30 years in the wild, their numbers remained stable even though the birth rate had dropped to almost zero due to the DDT which had poisoned their food supply in the 40s and 50s; however, as the older birds started to die, they were not replaced, and the American Bald Eagle’s population crashed. By 1979 Ohio was down to 4 or 5 pairs, and they weren’t producing many young. At this point, the Ohio Division of Wildlife stepped in and began managing the few pairs left by monitoring nests, trying to eliminate disturbances around breeding pairs, and transplanting young eagles into the nests of successful parents. These actions and the elimination of DDT in 1972 boosted Ohio’s Bald Eagle population to 12 pairs by 1989. In 1992 Ohio’s breeding population increased to 20 nests, 33 in 1996, and 57 in 1999. By the late 1990s, wintering eagle numbers soard to 100 -150 birds, and in a blog article from Cleveland.com from January 24, 2008, volunteers spotted an amazing 649 eagles during the Ohio Department of Natural Resources mid-winter survey. Of course, since the eagle is a water-loving bird and its diet consists primarily of fish, the largest concentration of eagles in Ohio is around Lake Erie, but as we well know, we have a few down in Cincy too...now!

...here are a few of my photographs of the bird from November 7, 2009...not nearly as commanding as the images made with a paintbrush, but you can at least make out his field marks!

Yes, oh yes...just 30 minutes north of our digs, this beautiful eagle was flying high.

...the Little Miami River is calling your name, bird...right at the bend near the Kings Powder Factory (or maybe that was me...).

...seeing the contrast between the white and black in the sky is beautiful.

...knowing this bird has fought its way back from near extinction is even more beautiful.