Lee McNeely, president of the Northern Kentucky Bird Club, was pleasantly surprised recently at the number of American Bald Eagles he spotted on the Ohio River. One day, on an 8-mile stretch of the Ohio River between Belleview and Petersburg in Boone County, he spied seven Bald Eagles.
“That was very unusual,” said Lee. “Usually on a good day I’ll see one, maybe two Bald Eagles.”
The sightings though are reassuring. The Bald Eagle is finally making a comeback in Kentucky and the lower 48.
“Until the 1980’s, the previous recorded nest in Kentucky was in the early 1950’s,” said Lee. “We went a full 35 years without a single eagle nest in the state.” The Bald Eagle, like so many other birds, had fallen victim to the effects of DDT, a now banned insecticide in the U.S.
DDT, for a period of time, was a seemingly effective insecticide. It quickly killed the mosquitoes that spread malaria and the lice that carried typhus, and is credited with saving millions of lives. Eventually though many insects developed a resistance to DDT and produced offspring that were also resistant. DDT was also highly toxic to the fish in our waterways. A recipe for disaster was brewing.
A “persistent insecticide,” the molecules in DDT stay together as a poison for a long time before breaking down into smaller, less toxic substances. It washed deep down into the soils, our streams, and lakes. DDT became entrenched in the food chain. And because it does not break down easily, DDT builds up in fatty tissues where it persists for long periods of time. It takes an animal 8 years to metabolize one-half of the DDT it consumes – more than a lifetime for many species of birds and mammals. Birds, like the Bald Eagle and Brown Pelican, ingested DDT after eating contaminated fish. The DDT caused their eggshells to be thin and brittle, so brittle that eggs were broken on the nest as parents sat on them during incubation. Eagle numbers plummeted to only hundreds of nesting birds in the contiguous U.S.
DDT was banned in 1972. “Eagles have been slowly re-establishing, especially in Western Kentucky,” said Lee. “There are also several nesting pairs in the Cincinnati area.” Last year, according to the Courier-Journal, 131 Bald Eagle nests were recorded in Kentucky, with another 100 to 400 eagles over-wintering in the state. Having been taken off the Federally Endangered Species List, things are looking up for the Bald Eagle. “They have recovered well and will probably continue to do so,” said Lee.
The United States adopted the Bald Eagle as its national emblem in 1782. At that time there were at least 100,000 nesting eagles in the U.S. They were at their lowest levels, about 800 nesting eagles, in 1962 when Rachel Carson raised awareness with her landmark book Silent Spring. Now, with their numbers steadily increasing and DDT long since banned, we have approximately 20,000 nesting eagles.
Most would agree that the Bald Eagle is a regal bird and an appropriate national emblem, though some would beg to differ. “Suffer me, kind reader, to say how much I grieve that it should have been selected as the Emblem of my Country,” said John James Audubon. “He is a bird of bad moral character; he does not get his living honestly,” complained Benjamin Franklin. Fortunately, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams disagreed with Franklin, and with the help of Philadelphia resident William Barton, the Bald Eagle was chosen as our national emblem.
A true American, the Bald Eagle is the only eagle unique to North America, with a range from northern Mexico to northern Alaska and Canada. “They’re always found close to water,” said Lee. Fish is their staple food but they’ll also eat waterfowl, turtles, rabbits, snakes and carrion. Like other birds of prey, females are larger than males and can weigh up to 14-pounds with an 8-foot wingspan.
Bald Eagles mate for life and can live more than 30 years in the wild. Their nests are an architectural marvel, which they typically enlarge yearly. These stick nests can reach 12-feet across and weigh more than a ton. No other bird in the world builds such a large nest.
Females lay one to three eggs per year, which hatch in about 35 days. Eaglets are flying within 3 months and are no longer dependant on their parents at 4 months. They are sexually mature and acquire their majestic looking white head and tail feathers when they are about 4 to 5 years old.
American Bald Eagles are more than a national emblem. With their near extinction and successful recovery, they represent the worst and best their human counterparts can achieve.
Gayle Pille is a local naturalist and nature writer who many know through her work to establish the five-mile network of nature trails at Highland Cemetery in Ft. Mitchell. She created the cemetery’s popular 25-year-old Wildlife Enhancement Program and works with a small team of volunteers to maintain the cemetery’s wooded walking paths. An avid birdwatcher, Gayle also builds custom wildlife nest boxes for businesses, parks and residences through her business, www.woodlandhabitat.com
Contact her at gaylepille@yahoo.com
We have seen the eagles many times over the last four years. It is pretty cool to see them take a fish out of the river.
So happy to read this article! Thought we would have to return to Lake Cumberland or Land Between the Lakes to see nesting Bald Eagles. To read that we could possibly see this in Boone County along the Ohio River is exciting. Thank you for this article and the information shared.
My wife and I saw a pair flying west over the AA highway near Bracken County at highway 1019.
I have had numerous sightings of Eagle’s cruising by my place in Rabbit Hash , A special thank you goes out to Miss Pilles
We have a bald eagle nest, clearly visible from a stretch of road…Oneonta Road in California, KY. along 12 mile creek in Campbell County. The pair have hatched two eggs for the last four years!!