Each year, the Endangered Species Unit of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issues a report on the status of nesting bald eagles in New York State.
This year’s report runs to over thirty pages and includes many beautiful eagle photographs and data on eagle management research, satellite tracking and productivity information.
The report notes that in the 2006 midwinter bald eagle survey (in which a number of local people participated), the coverage, both ground and aerial, was the most complete ever, thanks to perfect weather conditions during the January 4-18 survey dates.
Statewide, a total of 442 bald eagles were tallied, 252 adults and 190 immature birds, and it is suspected that many of these wintering birds are resident eagles as opposed to transient birds that make their way south from locations such as Canada.
Northern New York
The northern New York winter count of the state survey tallied 42 eagles
this year (up from 31 in 2005), 26 adults and 16 youngsters. These
observations, according to the report, continued to confirm the importance
of these wintering areas, not only to resident state eagles, but also
to numerous eagles from eastern Canada. Note: The Tupper Lake, Racquette
River and St. Lawrence localities, with its open water, Setting Pole
Dam and Racquette Falls are a crucial part of that area.
Reproductive Success
So what was the breeding success (egg laying and hatching) for the state’s
bald eagles? April 2006, the primary egg-hatching month for New York
State, was the warmest April on record for the United States. This
ideal weather provided a high hatch rate. Of the 110 nesting pairs,
172 young fledglings successfully flew from the nest – a whopping 54
percent increase over 2005, and a figure the report terms as “short
of remarkable.” Interesting, though, was the fact that “an amazing
and never-before-seen 30 percent of all successful pairs fledged three
young.” Normally, the long-term average is 5 percent.
Trouble in Paradise
Unfortunately, the high hatch rate was not the case in our area. Only
three of seven pairs were successful (43 percent), and then these three
nests only fledged one young each – likely because the Adirondack pairs
were just far enough behind the rest of the state to be negatively
affected by the later cold, wet weather.
I had hooked up my outdoor shower water pipes during this critical period, and then the weather turned bitter cold and busted a pipe, so it is no surprise that the eagle’s vulnerable eggs could have been chilled, interfering with incubation.
If cold weather didn’t provide a big enough handicap for our local eagles, a well-constructed, productive nest located in a lofty pine on a private lake near here was blown over and the nest destroyed. It occurred this summer during a violent localized storm called a derecho, which cut a swath through many of the significant pines on that property.
The good news is that the eagles have been observed building a new nest, an encouraging sign that they intend to resume production.
We can only hope that the research specialists are correct in their assumption that chilled eggs were the chief cause for the failure of eggs to incubate. Hopefully, there are not other causes at work repressing nesting and reproduction here in the Adirondacks – things like high levels of mercury or lead poisoning factors that have increasingly threatened our beloved loons, causing them to exhibit bizarre behavior, such as chicks not riding on their parents’ backs, abandoned nests and reproductive failure.
Jeopardy
The report listed 21 birds found dead or injured:
Trains – 2
Vehicles – 6
Shot – 1
Killed by another eagle – 3
Disease – 2
Fishing tackle – 1
Lead poisoning – 1
Weak and starving – 1
Fell from nest – 1
Despite the wonderful success of the bald eagle that was in danger of being extirpated, the research by the DEC Endangered Species Unit remains vitally important. Such studies that highlight problems in the animal world are somewhat like the canary in the coalmine in the sense that those studies can reveal environmental problems, and for us humans, act as a warning signal for our health conditions.
Sobering Thoughts
Who would have imagined six years ago that serious mercury problems existed
in our deep and beautiful Tupper Lake? A warning to not eat more than
a meal a month of fish from those waters was, to me, outrageous, incredible
and very, very sad and troubling.
Unfortunately, the warning was valid and of serious concern to all of us who love that lake. Sadly, the loons, eagles and otters don’t have an opinion – their survival depends on these fish for food.
The mercury is concentrated in these predators because they are the top of the food chain, and such concentrations are among the most toxic substances known to nature. Most of the mercury pollution that reaches our lakes is spewed into the atmosphere by large coal-burning power plants and municipal waste incinerators in the Midwest and central Canada. Fortunately, this problem has been recognized, and efforts are being made through litigation to curb some of the violations.