Wildlife Officials and Volunteers Spot a Record 80 Bald Eagles During Annual Survey

Quabbin Reservoir Tops list with 26 Birds Sighted

BOSTON – An annual one-day survey of wintering bald eagles conducted throughout the Commonwealth today yielded record sightings of 80 individual birds, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles announced.

Between 40 and 50 state and federal wildlife officials and volunteers observed birds through binoculars and spotting scopes on the ground and from the air during the event, which is part of a national survey. State data is pooled with national data and used by wildlife officials to track the progress of the recovery of the bald eagle, delisted from federal threatened status in 2007.

The 2009 preliminary statewide number is 80 eagles, with 54 adults and 26 juvenile eagles and the largest number of birds – 26 eagles – seen at the Quabbin Reservoir. The previous highest one-day count numbers are 76 birds in 1998, 74 birds in 2005, and 73 birds spotted in 2008.

The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) noted there is a new pair of eagles nesting in Hadley on the Connecticut River, which bodes well for eagle reproduction in the Bay State.

“For more than two decades, state and federal officials have worked with the private sector to protect and grow the Massachusetts bald eagle population,” Secretary Bowles said. “The sighting of 80 birds today – ten times the number counted thirty years ago – is proof this treasured national symbol is prospering here, thanks to this collaborative effort to study and protect bald eagles and their habitat.”

There were 17 adult and nine juvenile eagles spotted at the Quabbin, 14 adults and three juvenile eagles at in the Connecticut River area, and two adult eagles at the Wachusett Reservoir. Wildlife experts and volunteers also saw two juvenile eagles on the Mashpee River, five adult and three juvenile eagles in the Lakeville area, and three adult and one juvenile eagle at the Merrimack River. Eagles were also spotted in Natick, New Bedford, Plymouth, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, Taunton, Wareham, Wayland, and Wrentham.

Statewide, the number of birds surveyed has trended upward from eight birds counted in 1980 to 80 birds counted this year. Last year marked the first time bald eagles nested successfully in the lower Merrimack River. From 1989 to 2008, the number of chicks fledged – birds that hatched and survived to fly – in Massachusetts reached 300 chicks for the first time.

Officials and volunteers traveled to more than nine locations across the state from Newburyport to Pittsfield during the daylong event. Officials also conducted an aerial survey of the Quabbin Reservoir and Connecticut Valley by helicopter, which was supplied by National Grid, a partner in the state’s bald eagle restoration efforts since 1982.

The annual Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey is a nationwide event coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Each year, the number of states participating ranges from 25 states to 41 states, according to the USGS. The nationwide total of bald eagles counted during this annual event ranges from 13,000 birds to 16,000 birds.

MassWildlife, an agency of the Department of Fish and Game, has taken part in the national survey since its inception in 1980. By collecting leg-band data on the birds, MassWildlife has documented that eagles wintering in Massachusetts include Bay State natives and birds hailing from Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The annual count provides wildlife managers with information on local eagle populations, helps officials identify and monitor critical wintering areas, and fosters public interest in bald eagles and their conservation.

“Bald eagles are an integral part of the Massachusetts ecosystem and this survey helps our wildlife biologists monitor and study this fragile population,” said Fish and Game Commissioner Mary Griffin, who assisted wildlife officials with the count in Newburyport today. “The Commonwealth is grateful to our expert wildlife staff and committed volunteer birders statewide for staging this event and collecting valuable information about this majestic bird.”

In 2008, there were 26 bald eagle pairs statewide located in territories including the Quabbin Reservoir, Connecticut and Merrimack Rivers, and areas in Plymouth, Berkshire and Worcester Counties. In 2008, 22 of 24 nests produced chicks, and 33 young eagles survived to fledge.

A victim of habitat loss, unregulated bounty hunting, and reproductive failure linked to exposure to pesticides such as DDT, bald eagle populations plummeted across the country by the time they were placed on the US Endangered Species List in 1973. Their numbers have since rebounded and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed them from the federal roster in July, 2007.

Listed as endangered in Massachusetts since the 1980s, bald eagles remain on the state list but are gaining ground in the Bay State – thanks in large part to a restoration project begun in 1982. MassWildlife and its partners brought young eagles from Canada and Michigan and raised them in cages overlooking the Quabbin Reservoir. Through a wildlife management practice known as “hacking,” eaglets began to nest in the Quabbin and, after fledging, some “hacked” eagles established breeding territories at the reservoir.

In 1989, eight decades after the last “historic” bald eagle nest was observed in Massachusetts (on Snake Pond in Sandwich), the first three chicks fledged from two Quabbin nests. Eight bald eagle pairs nested there in 2008.

Bald eagle fact sheet:

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/species_info/nhfacts/haliaeetus_leucocephalus.pdf