While I was growing up
the Bald Eagle, symbol of America, was on the endangered list for extinction. This
majestic raptor was once very common throughout the United States, but their
numbers steadily dwindled from loss of habitat and competition for food from
human westward expansion. By the late 1800’s their numbers were already in
sharp decline, but then were further decimated with the use of DDT and other
pesticides. This weakened their eggshells which were often crushed during
incubation. On the Fourth of July, 1976, our country’s bicentennial anniversary, the Bald Eagle was officially placed on the endangered list by the US
Fish and Wildlife Service.
For a kid growing up in
New Jersey the Bald Eagle was truly just a symbol and not a “sighting”. Unless
I visited a zoo, or traveled out west somewhere or got up to Alaska, where most
of the Bald Eagle population now resides, I had no hope of seeing one.
That has changed. The Bald Eagle’s numbers have risen since the banning of DDT in 1972 and Federal and State conservation laws protecting the animal and its habitat. Once down to under 500 nesting pairs in the continental U.S. the numbers have risen to over 10,000 nesting pairs. In 1995 the US Fish and Wildlife Service upgraded the Bald Eagle’s status to “threatened” and in 2007 removed from the endangered species list. Seeing a Bald Eagle in the area is now plausible. Although not as plentiful as they were before the European invasion of North America, when they may have numbered up to half a million, the Bald Eagle population is coming back. Readers of this blog may remember a trip Team VFH made this past January to the Conowingo Dam in northern Maryland. Large numbers of Bald Eagles winter there feeding on fish that get sucked through the turbines on this Susquehanna River edifice. But now it is possible to see Bald Eagles and not have to leave New Jersey!
At the northern end of
my hometown of Lambertville, NJ there is currently a nesting pair of Bald
Eagles. There is at least one eaglet. They have made their aerie on a power
line tower near the Route 202 bridge. Walk along the towpath and right where
the canal passes over the Alexauken Creek you can see the nest in the tower to
the west. Bring a chair and enjoy this wonderful display and sigh with pleasure
knowing that few animals ever make it back from the very brink of extinction.
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| (c) 2014 Deborah Faust |
In deference to this
nesting pair the 14th annual Civil War re-enactment weekend at the
Holcombe-Jimison Farmstead Museum, just north of the power line aerie, will NOT be firing
off their cannons. The eaglets will not be disturbed. Please note because of
this event there is no free parking usually found in the area beside the 202
bridge. You can still park for free in town and enter the towpath at Elm Street
and head north.
If you’re interested in
getting something to eat and still want to see the eagles, visit Ed and
Debbie at the
Homestead Farm Market. The market is on Main Street in Lambertville. At the
Homestead you can buy lunch, fresh produce, drinks, some of the best apple pie
on this earth and flowers and then ask if you can look through their telescope
aimed right at the nest. It’s free and although supposedly only out Tuesday
through Saturday, if you ask Ed in a nice way he’ll set it up for you.
If you can’t make it to Lambertville or you need a daily fix of Bald Eagle antics there are several
webcams on the internet, most notably, for me, is the Duke Farms Eagle cam. In
operation since 2008, 8 million viewers have watched the male and female return
every year to the same nest.
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