Bald Eagle Pair Nests In Vermont - First Successful Nesting In State For 30 Years

[hatrack]

MONTPELIER – A pair of bald eagles have successfully nested and raised young in Vermont for the first time in three decades. "It's fantastic news. It is something we have been waiting for for a long time," said John Austin, director of wildlife for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

Like other predatory birds, bald eagles were decimated by the use of DDT and other chemicals. The last breeding pair known to successfully raise young in the state did so in the early 1970s, Austin said.

As eagle populations have rebounded in recent years, Vermont biologists have looked on enviously as pairs of the birds have raised young to adulthood in New York State and in New Hampshire. Several pairs have made nests – sometimes with biologists help – along the Connecticut River or Lake Champlain.

However, the birds have not succeeded in raising young, until this year. "We have had adult bald eagles living in the state of Vermont for a number of years now. What it seems to take in order to get them to nest is a lot of time, really," Austin said. "They need to re-acquaint themselves with the area and the habitat."

EDIT

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080912/NEWS02/809120369/1003/NEWS02

[phantom power]

1. See, we wouldn't have this problem if they were more flexible, like cockroaches...

or humans.

[catnhatnh]

2. I shot one in New Hampshire in 2006

With my sister, another photographer...first one I'd seen in the wild since Colorado in '72.....