25 Years of Eagle Research in New York State Questions, Answers and Discussion by Peter Nye , January, 2005 My agency, the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, has been studying eagles in our state for about 30 years now (oddly enough, the same amount of time I have been working here!). At any rate, when we began studying bald eagles in 1975, we had only one nesting pair left in our entire state, two adult birds, who could not produce any of their own young because the female was contaminated with DDT. To make a very long story quite short, we set about trying to restore bald eagles to our state, by releasing nestling eagles in man-made nests in habitats we felt were still suitable for eagles. No one in the world had ever "restored" bald eagles, so this was an experiment that would take at least five years to prove, since eagles don't begin breeding (generally) until they are about 5 years old. We began slowly, releasing only 2-4 eaglets per year, but after our first "new" nest was discovered from these releases, we went into high gear and began releasing 20-25 eaglets per year, mostly obtained from wild nests in Alaska, courtesy of many good friends up there in Southeast Alaska. The 200 eagles we released through this "hacking" project essentially rebuilt our bald eagle population from scratch. All through the years, we carefully monitored and nurtured every one of our nests; working with landowners to protect them and visiting each nest once a year to inspect it, and to count and band young. In 2004, we had 84 nesting pairs of eagles in our state and they raised and fledged 111 young! Think how many new nesting pairs just those 2004 youngsters will create 5 years from now! Of course, we have not been alone here in New York State in the eagle-conservation game. Many other states and Canadian provinces have been very actively involved in restoring and protecting their bald eagle populations. Strict laws protecting eagles, banning of harmful chemicals such as DDT, and an overall consideration of our actions as humans on the environment we share with other living things such as eagles, have resulted in a real resurgence of the bald eagle across North America. That is the good news! There is bad news, too, but I'll save that as we go along this season. Increased Numbers of New York Wintering Eagles Along with the rebound of our nesting eagles, also came a rebound in our wintering eagles. As you may or may not already know, bald eagles are in a family of eagles know as "fish eagles", so guess what they like and need to live there life? Yes, fish! And what do fish live in?? Right again! Water! So (stay with me here), when all that water freezes solid each winter, what do eagles do if they live in such places (like Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, etc)? They move to where they can find open water, of course, to find.................FISH!! But you kids probably knew all that already, didn't you! And that is where our current research and Journey North come in, studying these "winter visitors" that come to New York to take advantage of all our open water and fish throughout each winter. Where do they come from ? When do they get here and when do they leave? How long does it take them? Do they come to the same place each year? These are just some of the questions we are attempting to answer with our long-term studies. Copyright 2006 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form