Episode 41
Copyright © John Page Williams, Jr. all rights reserved.
This is John Page Williams with another reading from Chesapeake Almanac. The month is February and this chapter is entitled "Eagles Nesting."
Rod and Lucy Coggin were paddling a canoe along the shores of her family's farm on the lower Potomac. A mature bald eagle was soaring over them. Presently another appeared. It swooped down onto the first bird and they locked talons. Then, with wings outstretched, they whirled down like a double-bladed helicopter toward a tall loblolly pine. Just above the tree, they parted and went their separate ways. Rod and Lucy watched in amazement and delight.
This eagle behavior pattern is a spectacular recognition and mating display. It's quite a rare sight, at least for human observers. But being around eagles is not rare at all for Rod and Lucy. The Potomac has a number of successful nests. Midwinter counts for the whole Bay region have increased substantially in the last 50 years. The eagle population on the Chesapeake is very strong.
The bald eagle is still protected by law. It is still intolerant of disturbance by man. People still shoot eagles for a variety of reasons (none good, or legal). But since the EPA's ban on DDT in 1972, the population has been rising steadily. The lowest year on record was 1962 when 59 breeding pairs on the Bay produced 0.2 young per nest or 12 eaglets total for the Chesapeake. In the past few years it has been much stronger, and the population is approaching saturation for the available habitat.
The birds are grouped primarily along the rivers, and each major river system on the Bay has multiple nests. Heaviest concentrations occur at the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds at the head of the Bay; along Virginia's big western shore rivers, especially the Potomac, the Rappahannock, and the James; and in the huge marsh country of Dorchester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Recommended public places to watch eagles include the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge; Eastern Neck Island National Wildlife Refuge at the mouth of the Chester River near Rock Hall; the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna above Havre de Grace; Patuxent River Park at Croom, near Upper Marlborough; Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge on the Virginia side of the Potomac, below Mount Vernon.
We know Mason Neck was the first national wildlife refuge ever dedicated to preservation of habitat for bald eagles. Also, Calvin Natural Area on the Virginia side of the Potomac, above the Route 301 Bridge; Westmoreland State Park on the Potomac between Colonial Beach and Montrose; the Colonial Parkway on the York River near Williamsburg; the Jamestown Parkway; the James River Plantations, especially Shirley, Berkeley, Westover, and Evelynton; and Hogg Island State Wildlife Management Area near Surrey on the south bank of the James.
Seeing an eagle takes a little practice. Sometimes it's possible to go down the Wildlife Drive at Blackwater and find a mature adult, dark brown with white head and white tail, sitting unconcernedly in a dead tree 50 feet from the road. More often, though, the bird will be soaring some distance away and the white head and tail may not show up. In fact, immature eagles do not show white. They are dark brown with a few flecks of white all over, and they stay more or less that way for at least their first four years. It is easy to confuse them with turkey vultures.
There are, however, several field marks that are useful for identifying eagles, even several hundred yards away. First, the only other large dark hawk-type soaring birds common in the area are the turkey vulture, the black vulture, and the osprey. Of these, only the eagle and the osprey soar with their wings flat. The vultures' wings slant upward (the shape is called dihedral).
The osprey has a white belly, where the eagle's is dark, and the osprey's shorter wings (its wing spread is four-and-a-half-feet) curve backward at the elbows. The eagle's wings are longer (six-foot spread) and straighter, and narrower than those of the vultures, which have five-and-a-half and five-foot spreads respectively for the turkey vulture and the black. The eagle's head is much larger and longer than those of the other birds. On a clear day, sunlight will highlight the white tail of a mature eagle soaring.
Eagles in the Bay tend to roost in tall trees, often loblolly pines. From them and while soaring, the birds watch their territories and hunt food. Stories of stealing from ospreys or eating carrion are true, at least sometimes. The birds are big, and, while powerful, are not as quick as ospreys. Thus, they feed shrewdly. Fish, especially catfish, carp, and eels, are their most common food, though recent surveys show a marked increase in bird remains around nests. Eagles in the Bay feed occasionally on mammals, like muskrats, rabbits, and turtles. It is thought that most birds and mammals caught are sick or wounded.
There's evidence that the Chesapeake is important habitat not only to local nesting birds but to others up and down the Atlantic Coast. Local nesters tend to be non-migratory and occupied with nesting and raising young most of the year. They're on the nests in late fall, repairing them and lining them to lay eggs and begin incubating this month, February. The eggs hatch in mid- to late March and the young are fledged in June. There are a number of eagle cams around the Chesapeake that are available for viewing over the web, where patient observers can watch young eagles grow from tiny gray chicks to near full size over the course of three months or so. They stay around their parents till late summer, then they go out on their own in the early fall, and the parents start a new cycle all over again.
Florida's large population, meanwhile, lays eggs earlier, in November, and some young birds wander up to the Chesapeake the following summer, as will some non-breeding adults. Birds from New England, where eggs are laid in May and June, will come down for the winter. It appears that most members of every population of eagles on the East Coast use the Chesapeake at some point in their lives. There are spots on the James, like Powell's Creek National Wildlife Refuge below Hopewell; the Rappahannock, especially around Fones Cliffs between Tappahannock and Port Royal, and the Potomac around Caledon State Park, where eagles congregated at certain times of the year during these movements, and counts can run well over 30 birds in a two-acre area, a remarkable site to be sure.
Eagle watching is a good activity any time of the year. Remember, though, the birds do not tolerate disturbance well, especially now when they are nesting. Enough disruption will cause them to abandon the nest, usually for good. They're best appreciated from a distance. Watching them can be done from the shoulders of public roads, which means having a warm car close by to ease the February chill. A pair of binoculars is useful. Just watch the sky and be patient. The eagles are there.
For more happenings around the Bay in February see our other Chesapeake Almanac podcasts and read our blog posts "Skunk Cabbage are the Bay's Bouqet" and "Great Blue Herons Prepare for Spring in February."
