Bald eagles have received a great deal of attention due to their endangered status. However, the study of one species may be of detriment to other scientific study related to ecology and habitat. Dr. Byrd presented information about the study of eagles but also emphasized the need to preserve habitats for all species.

Bald eagles have made a remarkable recovery since their decline in the 1960s due to the use of DDT and other pesticides. In 1973, DDT was banned and the amount of forested area in the US was on the increase. In 1975, there were only one thousand nesting pairs in the US, primarily located in Florida, along the US coasts, and the lower Mississippi Valley. There were no nesting eagles on the James River or the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

In 1977, Dr. Byrd and Brian Watts began to inventory bald eagles and found 32 nesting pairs in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. In 2000, the number increased to 221 pairs with 414 young in the nest. Recently, 80 bald eagles were recorded on the James River.

Bald eagles became our national emblem in 1782, despite Ben Franklin's lobby to use the turkey. Their vocalization is a high-pitched squeak, not the spectacular or regal sound expected for our national bird. Female bald eagles are larger than males.

Bald eagles like to nest in trees with large canopies, such as loblolly pines on the Chesapeake Bay or in Cypress trees along the James River. Nests are as big as a Volkswagon Beetle, five feet across. They nest from November to February. Incubation is 35 days and young stay in the nest for 10-12 weeks. When the young fledge the nest, they remain in the area for two to three months and are fed by their parents.

The young weigh 180 grams at birth and have white and then gray down for several weeks. The greatest growth period is between 20-42 days. Feathers begin to form by five to six weeks and are fully established by nine-ten weeks. Feathers are chocolate brown in the first year and turn mottled in appearance in the second year. By the third year, the abdomen is white and bald eagles reach mature plumage by the fifth year.

Monitoring and enhancement has supported the recovery of bald eagles. To enhance the population and ensure survival of chicks, eggs have been hatched in captivity and replaced into nests. The program was phased out several years ago as a result of the high success rate.

Technology has improved significantly since 1977. Today, Dr. Byrd and his associates, including William and Mary students, monitor using global positioning from satellites (GPS) and can plot the location of nests, to within 100 feet, on topographical maps.

In the past, bands on birds were large enough for numbers to be visible by telescope. Airplane tracking was limited to within a 10-mile radius. Today, peregrine falcons, scientific name Falco peregrinus "the wanderer," are tracked using solar powered units and satellite information sent back to William and Mary by NASA to researchers. One peregrine was tracked from a Baltimore smoke stack to New York City, to a cliff in the mountains of Virginia, and back. Peregrines have been recorded traveling from South Carolina to the Dominion Republic in one day. Eagles, although not nearly as fast, travel as much as 180 miles per day.

Dr. Byrd showed slides of his students climbing trees in order to place cameras in a dozen nests in the area. Cameras record types of food and food consumption. The introduced Blue Catfish appears to be a large part of their diet. Turtle shells have been found in nests with very little damage to the shell, indicating very delicate removal of meat.

Today, there is a high density of birds along the four rivers leading into the Chesapeake Bay. Birds group in clusters in the upper sections of the rivers. They particularly like to aggregate in the summer. A large number of birds aggregate along a stretch in the Potomac River. Monitoring of one small pond found birds from Florida, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Maine stopped during their migration. At the pond, eagles were observed playing with plastic bottles, tossing them repeatedly up and down.

One conservation success story is Caledon State Park along the Potomac River. Because of eagle research and as a result of a task force set up by Governor Robb, the park redesigned public use options, providing an undisturbed buffer zone along the river. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is also playing a major role in conserving habitats. TNC has developed a regional ecological plan to set aside large blocks of land with corridors connecting the green space.

Eagles need big trees to perch in for feeding and nesting, and they need undisturbed forest. Birds need a distance of 395 meters of limited disturbance around the nest. Currently, there is a tremendous amount of timber cutting and land development taking place. Human access to land is continuously increasing and impinging on eagle habitat. Contiguous forested areas are decreasing threatening the eagle population and numerous other species. Habitat reduction is projected to continue with no end in sight. We must conserve habitat that can support bald eagles and all species inhabiting the Chesapeake Watershed.               Adrienne Frank, Secretary