Saturday, March 24, 2012
Ketchikan (Alaska) Daily News: We hear them and we see them; we enjoy them or we ignore them; occasionally, we wish they would sleep a little later in the morning. We sometimes are forgetful of the treat it is to live where the symbol of America, the bald eagle, is commonplace. It’s the only eagle unique to North America. We in Southeast Alaska have the highest density of bald eagles anywhere, with a population estimated between 13,000 and 26,000.
It’s an important time of year for eagles. The U.S. Forest Service says eagles, like ravens, crows and owls, are early nesting birds and should not be disturbed while that is going on.
According to the agency, eagles and other birds now are carrying nesting materials and behaving defensively. At this point, they are “particularly vulnerable” to any disturbance around their nests.
What that means is that disturbing a nesting eagle risks the eagle’s abandoning the nest. Brian Logan, a USFS wildlife program leader on the Tongass National Forest, says the risk of nest abandonment is far greater during the early stages of nesting even than when the young are present, “because the birds have less invested in their young” at this point.
If eagles do abandon a nest, it usually means the eagle pair probably won’t attempt to nest again this season. That means no eaglets.
The Forest Service says people should stay about the length of a football field away from a nest.