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Neighborly eagles nest in Valley
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The eagles, roosting near a home once owned by the Firestone family, are tolerant of their watchers.
NORTH LIMA — The bald eagles nesting south of Pine Lake are a modern couple, sharing duties in a nice neighborhood.
The pair are among the estimated 180 eagles in the state this year.
“The population has really taken off,” Damon Greer, an assistant superintendent for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said Tuesday. “It’s a tremendous success.”
The state was down to only four nesting couples in 1981.
Thanks to protective measures — bald eagles are protected under federal and state law — there are reports of eagle sightings near Guilford Lake in Columbiana County and Lake Milton in Mahoning County.
The Pine Lake eagles made a nest on the north side of Lipply Road in Mahoning County. They picked a nice location on the Columbiana Test Center of Bridgestone/Firestone North America Tire.
Ben J. Strawinski. the facility’s manager, said he’s found people on the property trying to get a closer look, including one person staring at the bottom of the high nest. The people are asked to leave, but Strawinski said the nest is easily visible from the road.
Greer said some eagles might be bothered and get violent by the attention from humans, but the Pine Lake eagles “are very tolerant.”
It’s a nice neighborhood. The large nest is close to an old house that once belonged to a member of the Firestone family.
There is an unconfirmed report of another eagles nest in a wooded area on a nearby private farm. Greer said eagles may have more than one nest.
Some 50 percent of the eagles may return to a given nest, but the suspected site was sort of a natural sublet.
“It had great horned owls in it last year” Greer said.
The male and female eagles will swap duties. The male will sit on the eggs — often two or three — while the female gets a fish.
Strawinski said he has seen an eagle flying to the lake to bring home dinner.
The shallow water of Pine Lake makes for a perfect habitat, Greer added.
When the young are born, generally in July, the parents will tear a fish to pieces and feed their offspring.
When it comes to size, adult eagles range from 8 to 14 pounds. The male is the smaller one. The female will weigh 12 to 14 pounds.
Deb Curl, who lives on Lipply Road, said many people have come to see the eagles.
She said that she had heard that the birds will toss out the feathers padding the nest to induce the young eagles to leave home.
Greer said that was a new one on him.
He explained that when a young eagle is ready to take off, he or she will weigh slightly more than the mother. The energy from the extra weight will help the young learn how to fly.
wilkinson@vindy.com