The bald eagle soars in Florida

The bald eagle soars in Florida

OCTOBER 23, 2008 - It’s only fitting the bald eagle should make such stunning population gains in recent years in Florida and across the United States. With a diving speed between 75 and 100 miles per hour and the ability to soar to 10,000 feet and to sail through the air for hours, this national symbol represents majesty and strength and tenacity.

Bald eagles mate for life, and both the male and female work together to create nests for the 1-3 eggs that are laid each spring. (Photo by Dominick Martino; used with permission.)

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), through sound conservation plans, will ensure the bald eagle continues to increase in numbers in Florida. The FWC’s Bald Eagle Management Plan sets very rigid regulations for protecting the areas where this migratory bird makes its home during the cold-weather months.

"The goal of the plan is to maintain a stable or increasing bald eagle population throughout the state in perpetuity," said Ulgonda Kirkpatrick, FWC eagle plan coordinator. "To achieve this goal, bald eagles and their nests have to be protected through science-based management, regulation, public education and law enforcement."

When the founding fathers named the bald eagle as the national symbol in 1782, its population was estimated at more than 300,000. Nearly 200 years later, its population decline reflected man’s intrusion into eagle habitat. By the 1950s, their numbers had dropped to 10,000 breeding pairs in the United States. Further activities, such as spraying crops with DDT, took an alarming toll on the bald eagle within another decade. Fewer than 500 pairs existed by the 1960s.

This drastic decline sounded the alarm, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) officially named the bald eagle as endangered in 1967, a full five years before the Endangered Species Act passed in 1973. In Florida, monitoring of the bald eagle began in 1973 and only 88 active nests were found.

That call to arms for the nation’s symbol worked, allowing the majestic bird to make a comeback. In 2007, the FWC reported more than 1,100 documented nests – a 300-percent increase.

Bald eagle nests in Florida are protected by the Bald Eagle Management Plan. (Photo by Dominick Martino; used with permission.)

The USFWS removed the bald eagle from the endangered species list in 2007, and in 2008, the FWC also delisted the bald eagle along with adoption of a new state Bald Eagle Management Plan.

"This is a historic occasion," FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said in April 2008 when the bald eagle was delisted. "Bald eagle conservation efforts have been a success story that reflects great credit on agencies and people who worked tirelessly to make it happen. Good news is hard to come by sometimes when we’re dealing with an imperiled species, but we’ve all earned the right to celebrate a victory today."

Delisting the largest bird of prey -- and one of the largest birds in all of North America -- does not mean the bald eagle will not be protected. The FWC Bald Eagle Management Plan and the new state rule protecting eagles (F.A.C. 68A-16.002) will ensure that the bird’s numbers never again dip so close to the brink of extinction. The bald eagle is also protected under two federal laws: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

Florida is the destination for approximately 1,400 breeding pairs of bald eagles, according to reports from the FWC in 2005. They leave the colder climate of the Midwest for, not only warmer temperatures, but also the abundance of water Florida provides.

Bald eagles nest in pine trees close to lakes, marshes, rivers and seacoasts. The nesting season in Florida begins in October as the couple works together to build a large nest with twigs, leaves and grasses. By spring, the female will lay between one and three eggs. For 35 days, the pair will share incubation duties. At 12 weeks, the fledglings are ready to leave the nest, but despite their status as fully-fledged birds, they have a 50-percent chance of surviving that first year.

While the FWC and other entities have worked to enact protections for the bald eagle, the eagle itself has adapted to urbanization by building nests in cell towers and on telephone poles. Its recovery can also be attributed to the management efforts of the FWC that create buffers around bald eagle nesting sites.

Sound conservation practices will ensure the bald eagle will never be listed again as endangered.

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The FWC’s Bald Eagle Management Plan

State permitting near bald eagle nesting sites falls in three categories: disturbance, scientific collecting and nest removal. The FWC’s Bald Eagle Management Plan may be found at MyFWC.com/eagle.

The Web site has information about the annual nesting surveys, a nest site database, and a technical assistance section for permitting. For more information, call 352-732-1225 or e-mail, eagle­_plan@MyFWC.com.  Answers to questions about bald eagle nesting are available at 386-758-0525 or baldeagle@MyFWC.com.

Report potential wildlife law violations, 24 hours a day, to the toll-free Wildlife Alert Hotline, 1-888-404-3922.