Bald eagles are making a comeback in Tennessee and Georgia.
The national symbol had all but disappeared 30 years ago, and hadn't been seen nesting in Tennessee for 22 years until a pair took up residence at Reelfoot Lake in 1983.
Now 130 to 140 nesting pairs live along the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers and near large lakes such as Reelfoot, state ornithologist Scott Somershoe said.
"It's a miraculous recovery. They were nearly extinct and now there's nearly 10,000 nests," he said.
Four eagle couples nest along the river in the Chattanooga area, he added.
"There's a pair at Raccoon Mountain (pumped storage facility), a couple of nests near the Hiwassee Refuge, and there's a nest near the Chester Frost and Booker T. Washington (state parks) area," he said.
Tennessee officials are so pleased with the recovery they are thinking of removing the eagle from the state endangered list.
The regal raptor was taken off the federal list of endangered species in 2007.
Georgia bald eagle nests numbered zero in the 1970s and were only a handful when Department of Natural Resources wildlife manager Jim Ozier started searching for them more than two decades ago.
"Georgia now has 136 nesting pairs," Mr. Ozier said, adding that nearly a third of Georgia's 159 counties have bald eagles nesting this year.
"In Northwest Georgia, there is a nest on Carter's Lake in Murray County and another on Lake Blue Ridge in Fannin County," he said.
Coastal counties have the most nests because eagles love fish, he said.
Helping nature
Scientists have said bald eagles declined nationwide from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s because of a pesticide known as DDT. The chemical made their eggs infertile and the shells too thin to withstand the weight of the parent birds.
PDF: Eagle facts PDF: Bald eagle resurgence
DDT was banned in 1972. As contamination faded over the decades, wildlife officials began hatch-and-release programs.
Most adult eagles are thought to return to nest in the area where they first flew, so wildlife workers used hacking, a procedure adapted from falconry, to reintroduce bald eagles to Tennessee and Georgia.
At 8 weeks, eaglets obtained from captive breeders or wild nests in areas with surplus birds were placed on manmade towers in remote areas near large bodies of water. The eaglets were kept in an enclosure and fed by biologists, who stayed out of sight.
When they reached flight age at about 12 weeks, the enclosure around the artificial nest was opened and the birds were free to leave. Biologists kept feeding them until they learned to fend for themselves
Tennessee has hacked 326 bald eagles since 1980. Georgia has hacked 89.
"We're not certain what role that played in the national recovery, but we think it did play some small part," Mr. Ozier said.
He said education also helped most people become more informed and tolerant of eagles and other predatory wildlife.
"Periodically there still are people who will take shots at them," he said. "But probably more are hit by cars now than are actually shot."
Future protection
Mr. Somershoe said the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, a federal statute enacted in 1940 and amended several times since, may provide more protection for the birds than they had under the Endangered Species Act.
"If you are found causing a nest to fail from disturbance, an individual could get a $100,000 fine. And a $300,000 fine for a company or developer. So they are arguably more protected now than they were, just because the fines are greater," he said.
Mr. Ozier said Georgia uses the law and also continues to protect eagles with guidelines from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
EAGLE FACTS* The Continental Congress declared the bald eagle the national symbol on June 20, 1782. Benjamin Franklin had preferred the turkey.* An eagle's diet is 70 percent to 90 percent fish -- live or freshly dead. They also often feed on rabbits, coots and injured waterfowl.* Their wingspread varies from 6 to 8 feet.* Bald eagles live 20 to 35 years in the wild and about 50 years in captivity.* Eagles normally mate for life. They may re-mate within a few months if the first one dies.* Nest diameter averages 5 feet during the first year. The same eagles may add to the nest each year up to a size of 8 feet across by 12 feet deep.* Young eagles normally leave the nest (fledge) at 10 to 12 weeks.* Horizontal flight speed has been measured at up to 44 mph.Source: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
"We try to work with landowners who have nests," he said. "We encourage landowners to establish zones around nests and minimize activity around a nesting pair."
He said some eagles have adapted to human activity and have even nested in developed areas.
But the birds don't have all clear skies yet.
Development continues to push them into places less ideal for their habitat -- farther from water and into smaller trees more susceptible to disturbance and wind, Mr. Somershoe said.
Up around Kentucky Lake in Tennessee, for instance, timberlands around the lake were sold off a few years ago for development, and land was bulldozed to build houses just before the economy slumped.
"Now there are abandoned nests everywhere, with a road sitting next to them. And no houses," he said.
One hedge on removing the bald eagle from the Endangered Species List is a federal requirement for a continuing bald eagle census, according to the naturalists.
Every five years after delisting, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife will be retabulating eagle residents, and at 25 years after, officials will look to see if the species should be relisted.
"I think they'll probably be doing pretty good and will be OK in the long term, but it's something we're looking at," Mr. Somershoe said.
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