June 04, 2007
No Longer Endangered?
First, a note about the status of the Osprey Cam. We apologize for the down time. Our ranger tried to fix the cam while our cam technician was out of town, but he was not successful. Our cam technician returned on Saturday from his trip, but heavy rain from Tropical Storm Barry prevented him from going out right away to check the cam. He plans to do it on Monday. We think it might be the battery but it could also be the controller on our solar panel. If it's the controller, we might have to order a part, but we'll see what our cam tech finds. Thanks for your patience.
As I mentioned on the Eagle Cam page, we just updated the Eagle Gallery, and as of Thursday, we could see that all four family members were at the nest. This means that both our parents are still looking after the eaglets, and the eaglets seem to be healthy and safe, even though both are likely flying by now. Thanks to all those who have been sending in photos to our Eagle Gallery even though the chicks are not at the nest as much during the day and night.
On the Norfolk Botanical Gardens Eagle Cam, the three eaglets there are a little younger than our birds, so they are just beginning to seriously branch and fly. When you visit the website, be sure to look at the slideshows they have posted as they contain a lot of interesting photos. Here are two good branching shots (photo 1 and photo 2) from the slideshows that illustrate how the eaglets are slowly moving further and further out onto the branches -- sometimes with their parents -- and how they hop around the branches using their talons and wings. Taking that first leap is a big moment in the life of an eaglet, so it takes some time for them to work up to it.
Eagle No Longer Endangered?
Normally we don't talk about politics too much in the web logs, but sometimes a political issue comes up that directly affects our birds, and I wanted to mention one of those issues in this log entry.
The American bald eagle is very close to coming off the federal endangered/threatened species list -- in fact, it will likely come off sometime in the next few weeks. This is an event that many conservationists and environmentalists have been anticipating for many years, so it's worth looking at the implications of such a momentous move by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In 1940, Congress passed the Bald Eagle Protection Act because bald eagle numbers in America had plummeted and the eagle was faced with possible extinction. In 1962, an amendment was added to this law that protected the golden eagle as well, so it became the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. In 1967, bald eagles -- in most areas south of the 40th parallel -- were officially protected as an endangered species under a law that preceded the Endangered Species Act of 1973. When the ESA was created by Congress in 1973, the eagle came under its protection, and has been listed ever since.
The main reason for the severe decline in eagle populations is best described by the USFWS: "The greatest threat to the bald eagle’s existence arose from the widespread use of DDT and other pesticides after World War II. DDT was used for insect control throughout the country and its residues washed into lakes and streams. There, it was absorbed by aquatic plants and animals that were eaten by fish. The contaminated fish, in turn, were consumed by bald eagles. The chemical interfered with the bald eagle’s ability to develop strong shells for its eggs. As a result, bald eagles and many other bird species began laying eggs with shells so thin they often broke during incubation or otherwise failed to hatch. Their reproduction disrupted, bald eagle populations plummeted."
Other threats to the eagle included lead poisoning from lead shot used by hunters, as well as declining habitat.
The bald eagle got a lot of help in its recovery when DDT was banned in the U.S. in 1972, and when the USFWS worked to phase out the use of lead shot. In addition, the USFWS employees at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland assembled the largest colony of breeding bald eagles in captivity and hatched out 124 chicks that were used to restock some of the wild population. Finally the Endangered Species Act also played a role in rehabilitating eagle populations because it legally required a recovery plan to rehabilitate the eagle and it made it unlawful for anyone to "take" a bald eagle, and this included significantly modifying its habitat. The Act also outlined procedures for federal agencies to follow when taking actions that might hurt eagle populations.
All these efforts -- in conjunction with state activities to rehabilitate eagle populations -- helped get the bald eagle to the point where in 1995, the USFWS upgraded the eagle from endangered to threatened. In 1999, bald eagle populations had grown so large that the USFWS then announced that they wanted to examine the issue of removing the eagle from protection under the Endangered Species Act altogether. There was a considerable delay between that time and now, but the USFWS was hesitant to remove the eagle until it was sure it could be adequately protected without the ESA. Now that time has come. At this stage eagle populations have grown from 417 breeding pairs nationwide in 1963 to approximately 9,789 pairs today.
On Friday, June 1, 2007, the USFWS released a 34-page decision on how they plan to protect the eagle after it comes off the ESA list. The chief controversy has been how the USFWS would define the deceptively simple word "disturb." Because the eagle will no longer be protected by the ESA, that means the main form of legal protection will fall to the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. But the question remained, how strictly would the government define the ability to "disturb" a bald eagle. If the USFWS defined the word too loosely, eagles could be driven away from feeding areas or winter roosts by construction noise and other human activities, and the only way to prove the disturbance would have required that a person produce a dead or injured eagle.
So the USFWS announced on June 1, that they will enforce a tougher definition of "disturb" that defines disturbance as "to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that causes, or is likely to cause, based on the best scientific information available, 1) injury to an eagle, 2) a decrease in its productivity, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior, or 3) nest abandonment, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior."
This much tougher definition offers greater protection and greater chance for enforcement of the law. It also means it will be easier for Americans to maintain a strong bald eagle population that will not slip back into endangered status once the eagle is removed from the ESA list.
As good as this news was, challenges remain for those who are interested in protecting the eagle. For example, states with a growing eagle population, but also growing human development along the coastlines, will have to work hard to ensure that eagles have enough quality habitat near their food source in order to raise a family. States can still use local laws to protect eagles, and they will have to decide how they want to approach protection once the raptor comes off the ESA list. Also, there is currently a controversy in Arizona where environmentalists have asked the USFWS to declare the Arizona bald eagle as a separate population under the Endangered Species Act because it is an isolated group that does something no other bald eagles do -- nest in the arid desert. That battle continues to this day.
But the good news is that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken an important step in protecting the eagles that will be delisted. This was a controversial decision, since there are many landowners who hope to significantly increase development near eagle nests once eagles lose some of their protection. We hope that in the future, the USFWS will continue to place science above politics when it comes to protecting our eagles.
At the sites below, you can learn more about the history of protecting eagles, as well as more about the USFWS announcement:
USFWS Bald Eagle Fact Sheet (PDF file)
USFWS Announcement on new eagle management guidelines
"Disturb" is Given Broader Definition from the Washington Post
Press Release from Environmental Defense regarding USFWS announcement on definition of "disturb"
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
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