BRUNSWICK, Ga. – Sheila Willis of Waycross is not surprised to hear the number of fledgling bald eagles in the state has risen by 30 since last year.
As president of the Okefenokee Bird Club, Willis organizes a Christmas bird count on Cumberland Island and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge for birders across the state. After the events, Willis compiles data on the quantity of bird species seen or heard during a full day of observation to share with the National Audubon Society and federal entities.
“In the areas we’ve counted, there’s definitely been an increase (in bald eagles), particularly in the Cumberland Island area and Camden County,” Willis said. “We’ve found as many as 14 during one day.”
The bald eagle population has made a major comeback from a period during the 1970s when there were no records of the national bird with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said Jim Ozier, the state agency’s program manager for the Forsyth office.
The agency, which conducts statewide aerial surveys in the winter during nesting season, counted 139 occupied nests, with 122 of those producing 194 fledglings for the 2009-2010 nesting season.