Eagle Recovery: Plans in the Northern States Region

Each region of the United States has unique oportunities to plan for the recovery of the Bald Eagle. These Regions are:
Chesapeake Bay Region, Northern States Region, Pacific States Region, Southeastern States Region, and the Southwestern States Region. Click on any region to find out more information. The Northern States plans are given on this page.

Summary:
This is a plan to help the bald eagles in the northern states. The goal of this plan is to have 1,200 occupied breeding areas in at least 16 of the states in this region. Each nest must produce at least one baby eagle. This should happen by the year 2000.

The states included in this study are: Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

The main problems that the eagles have faced in the region are:

1. The land has been changed so eagles can't live there anymore.


2. Eagles are being killed. Some are shot. Some die from poisons or disease. Some die in accidents or are electrocuted when they run into power lines.


3. Baby eagles are dying or not hatching from their eggs because of poisons in the environment.

There need to be studies done on the bald eagle. There is also a need for better communication between people and groups that work with eagles.

In this plan we suggest doing the following:

1. Find out more about the eagles and where they live.


2. Find out how many eagles live in the region.


3. Protect the eagles and the land that they live on.


4. Make it easier for groups that are working with the eagles to find out about the eagle. Also make it easier for them to talk with each other.

Yearly Studies. Studies must be done to find out how many eagles live in the region. Finding out where the nests are and how successful they are is also very important. Scientists need to know where these eagles go in the winter.

Land Studies. Researchers need to find out what all eagle nesting areas have in common. Then they can try to help keep these areas safe for eagles. They also need to know about the other types of areas where eagles like to go. These too need to be kept safe for eagles and their young.

Working Together. People need to work together to help the eagle recover. Different parts of the government and local groups need to let each other know what is going on.

In 1978 the bald eagle was listed as a threatened species in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington, and endangered in the rest of the United States. This plan was made to help the bald eagle recover in the 24 states of the Northern Region.

The bald eagle is a large bird that lives only in North America. Adults, with their dark brown bodies, white heads and white tails are well known as the nation's symbol. Adult feathers do not come in until the eagle is at least four years old.

Bald eagles are not ready to breed and produce eaglets until they are four to six years old. Sometimes they are even older before they start breeding. Bald eagles can live to be 30 years old.

Bald eagle nests are almost always built along lakes, rivers, or by the sea. Fish is their favorite food. Eagles are said to mate for life but there is not a lot of information on this yet. Birds will find new mates if their mate dies.

Adults seem to use the same breeding area, and often the same nest, each year. The nests are usually built in trees, sometimes on cliffs and rarely on the ground. A female eagle will lay from one to three eggs. Successful pairs usually raise one or two young, sometimes three each year. The time of the year that the eagles nest depends on where they are in North America. Egg laying takes place in November in Florida and May in Alaska and northern Canada. The time between egg-laying and when the young are ready to fly is about four months. Usually, eagle pairs spend about six months around the nest.

There are fewer places where the eagle lives and breeds now than in the past. Records show that the bald eagles nested in at least 45 states. As of 1981, occupied nests were only in 30 states and most of the 1,250 or so known pairs were in just ten states: Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, Michigan, Oregon, Maine, California, Maryland, and Virginia. In Canada and Alaska alone, there may be as many as ten times that number.

In the winter, most bald eagles fly south. Because of this, thousands of eagles ( about 13,000 were counted during 1981 ), come into the United States from November through March.

Most bald eagles that have come for the winter, stay in the west and midwest. These wintering eagles are found near open water, and they feed on fish and water birds. They usually eat birds that are dead, crippled or sick in some way. Dead mammals is another important food source in some places. Bald eagles that spend a long time wintering in areas far from the water may eat dead cattle and deer or small live animals.

At night wintering eagles may stay together at roost trees. Sometimes they will travel as much as 20 km to get to a roost site. The same roosts are used for several years. Many are protected from the wind. Some scientists think that coming together at night makes it easier for them to share information about where to get food. Also, roost sites are in areas that keep the eagles away from people. If people do disturb a roost at night, the eagles will not come back.

Scientists used to think that all eagles came together to roost. New information suggests that only half of eagles roost in large numbers. The rest come together in small groups of around twenty birds.

Many bald eagles were killed by people in the 1800s. Most of these eagles were shot or trapped. Even now people shoot eagles though it is against the law. And the eagles face other problems. There are poisons in the environment which make it difficult for the eagle to breed successfully. But the loss of safe land is probably the biggest problem for the bald eagle. Wildlife areas are being turned into towns and cities so there are fewer places where eagles can live and breed.

For more than 20 years researchers have been studying the bodies of eagles found dead in the wild. They try to figure out how the eagle died. Shooting and accidents were the main cause of death. Poisoning, electrocution, disease and trapping injuries were the other important causes of eagle death.

Death from shooting and these other causes could be stopped. Proper education and management could help bring down the number of eagles killed yearly. But eagle death by poisoning is harder to stop. The environment is polluted. Poisons, like those used to kill insects on crops, get into the eagle's food supply.

DDT, a spray used on crops, kills insects. These insects are eaten by other animals that the eagle eats. This is how the poison gets into what is called the eagle's food chain. Also, when it rains, this poison spray gets into the water and into the fish that eagles eat. DDT causes the eagles to lay eggs with thin shells. Many of these eggs simply do not hatch.

Pairs of eagles in Maine, New Jersey, New York, and other northern states failed year after year to produce young. In the laboratory, scientists found that these eggs had high levels of DDT. This poison is now illegal to spray in the United States so the problem seems to be getting better.

Mercury and lead have also caused eagle death. In the winter eagles eat a lot of birds like ducks that have been shot by hunters with lead pellets. When the eagle eats these injured birds, the lead gets into the eagle.

Another problem is acid rain. Hundreds of lakes in the north have become so acidic that all the fish have been killed. Then the eagle has nothing to eat.

Michigan
Nesting eagles: In 1893 bald eagles were common in the Upper Peninsula. In 1912 eagles were most common near the Great Lakes and large rivers but weren't as common as they were before. By 1950 they were not at all common and could only be seen in the upper half of the state. At that time there were about 50 pairs of nesting bald eagles. Wintering eagles: Eagles didn't come to the north but were seen during the fall, winter, and early spring along Lake Erie.

Missouri
Nesting eagles:One writer stated in 1907 that there used to be a lot of nesting eagles along all the big rivers in Missouri but by that time he didn't think there were any left. In 1939 a writer wrote that there were probably less than 50 pairs of nesting eagles. In 1907 there were very few wintering eagles in the state.

New York
Nesting eagles:There were lots of nesting eagles until the early 1900s. There were 72 known nests in New York until the 1950s. By 1960 there were very few nests being used. There used to be a lot of birds in the winter, especially on Long Island and along the lower Hudson River and the eastern shores of Lake Ontario. During one winter in the mid-1800s, 60-70 bald eagles were shot on Long Island.

At the time this report was made there were no nesting bald eagles in Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Nebraska, and Utah. Scientists don't know if there were ever eagles in Rhode Island or Vermont.

Of 568 known occupied nesting areas, 544 were in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Maine. In 1981 only 66 of 640 young were born in states other than the four listed.

There are no records of eagles wintering in Vermont or Rhode Island and there are very few eagles that winter there now. Some eagles winter in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Together these eagles make up 4% of the winter birds in the northern states.

There may be some birds in places to which it is hard to travel in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota but these are difficult to count. In the winter Maine has about 100 birds, and Iowa has about 200. Most of the eagles in this region spend the winter in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and along the Mississippi River. These states have 90% of the wintering birds in the Northern States Recovery Region and about half of the wintering birds in the whole country.

There wasn't much interest in the bald eagle until the 1960s. The National Audubon Society's Continental Bald Eagle Project, which started in 1960, was the first attempt to find out about the numbers of bald eagles left in America.

The eagles lost more and more safe land. The government got more interested. In 1963 the U.S. Forest Service created safe zones around all known nest sites on National Forest lands in the Great Lakes Region. Since then researchers have learned a lot more about the eagles.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state agencies also got more interested in helping the eagles. The National Wildlife Federation started an Eagle Information Center in 1976.

Now eagle nest sites are studied all over the country. In the east and midwest these studies were done by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state wildlife agencies and by people who volunteered. In the West other agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation, have joined in this work.

Groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy, and Eagle Valley Environmentalists have been able to either buy or protect land that eagles used, especially in the winter.

Researchers have also taken eggs and young from states where there are more eagles like Alaska and the Great Lakes states to states that have fewer eagles like New York, Ohio, Missouri, Massachusetts, and other states outside the Northern States Region.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service directs much of the work being done to help the eagles. When the bald eagle was made an endangered or threatened species in 1978 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service got even more involved with the eagles. The Bald Eagle Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act protect the eagle on a national level. Most states have their own laws to help the bald eagle.

Essential habitats are places that scientists think are very important to the bald eagle. These are the things that an essential habitat must have:

1. Space for the eagles and their young to live.


2. Food, water, air, light, minerals or vitamins needed to live a healthy life.


3. A place where eagles can go in bad weather and when they are resting.


4. Places to build nests that are safe for young eagles.


5. A place where no one bothers the eagles.

Breeding Habitat: A breeding habitat is a safe area where eagles can build nests and raise their young. Below is a list of the things that are needed to make a safe breeding habitat for the bird.

1. The pair of bald eagles need about 640 acres for a comfortable nesting area. This includes both water and land in which to find food. The eagles need privacy when they're in the nest. Sometimes 640 acres might not be enough land for a nesting pair.


2. The shape of the land can be different. For example, the 640 acres doesn't have to be in the shape of a square or circle. The nesting site doesn't have to be in the middle of the land either.


3. In areas where many eagles are nesting it is better to have one large area of land than to have several pieces.


4. The breeding habitat should be one piece unless the place where the eagles go to feed is far away.


5. The essential or breeding habitat can be on public or private land.


6. If an eagle leaves an area, that area should be kept as the eagles may come back at a later date.


7. The breeding habitat may be hard to define exactly. Find out about other breeding areas nearby to see if the two are similar.

Nonbreeding Habitat: These are places used by adult eagles when they are not breeding. These places are also used by young eagles. Listed below are some important thoughts about these areas:

1. These areas are not always near nest areas.


2. These areas should include land that eagles can use as well as lakes, shorelines, or parts of rivers where eagles like to find food. Eagles also need places to perch and rest where they won't be bothered by people.


3. The importance of each area may depend on things like the number of birds who visit these areas or on how much other land can be used by the eagle. Since the situation is different in each state, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should be contacted.

Wintering Areas: Winter can be a difficult time for bald eagles. If they are tired and weak after the winter, they may have a hard time breeding in the spring. This is why it is so important that eagles have safe places to spend the winter. For young eagles, those in their first year of life, getting through their first winter can be especially hard.

Although wintering areas are important, it is impossible to find out exactly how much land should be set aside for eagles in the Northern Region. This is because several thousand eagles from nesting areas in Canada come into the Region each winter. There is no easy way to tell the eagles apart. And all eagles need to be protected anyway.

Here is a list describing the types of areas that need to be protected:

1. Places used every year for two weeks or more by eagles thought to be from this breeding area.


2. Places used every year by five or more eagles for two weeks or more in Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.


3. Places used every year by 15 or more eagles for two weeks or more in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, or along the Mississippi River.


4. Places used by bald eagles during times of bad weather, when the number of regular feeding areas and night roost sites is small.

The reason that this recovery team makes the first point, in the list above, is to keep the eagles from having to fly long distances to find winter homes. The less they travel, the better their chances are to make it through the winter.

The rest of the list deals with areas used by eagles from other areas. Hundreds of these areas exist, and some are used more than others. The importance of any one spot is hard to measure. Some questions which researchers can ask are: How much time do eagles spend there each year? How many eagles go there? For how many years has this spot been used? Is the spot used when the weather is bad?

The Great Lakes and Northeast support very few eagles in the winter. So when wintering spots are found that have five eagles or more, these are considered important for the following reasons: 1) the eagles should have safe wintering spots all over the region, 2) the amount of suitable areas may be small, 3) these spots should be kept for the eagle as the number of eagles gets larger.

The ways to figure out the boundaries of these areas of essential habitat are as follows:

1. These areas should have roost sites, feeding areas which include water, and any other features that are important for the eagles to live.


2. Boundaries should be made along legal boundary lines.


3. The land should be in one piece unless feeding areas are far away.


4. An essential wintering habitat may include private and/or public land.

These recommendations are for the Northern States Region only. Many of the eagles from this region spend the winter in other regions. Other regions need to protect these birds in the winter. This is one area where the five recovery regions need to come together.

Goal: To help the eagles establish 1,200 occupied nests in the region, spread out over at least 16 states by the year 2000. Each occupied nest must produce at least one young eagle each year. When these numbers are reached, bald eagles in the region will have their listing changed from endangered to threatened.

Given that we now have about 570 known pairs of nesting bald eagles, the goal should not be hard to reach.

Number of occupied bald eagle breeding sites in the Northern States Region

State	1981	Goal for 2000
Colorado	5	10
Connecticut	0	10
Illinois	2	20
Iowa	1	10
Kansas	0	0
Maine	64	150
Massachusetts	0	10
Michigan	102	140
Minnesota	190	300
Missouri	2	50
Nebraska	0	10
New Hampshire	0	5
New Jersey	1	10
New York	2	50
North Dakota	0	10
Ohio	6	20
Oklahoma	1	10
Pennsylvania	4	10
Rhode Island	0	0
South Dakota	0	0
Utah	0	10
Vermont	0	0
Wisconsin	188	360
Connecticut	0	10
Total	568	1,200

This is an outline of the steps needed to help the bald eagle recover in this region. Some of the items listed below are questions that the recovery team needs to ask.

1. Find out how many bald eagles live here. How are they doing?
   1. For the breeding season: Check the areas and make a map of breeding sites each year. Are the eagles using the old sites? Are there any new nests in the area? Finding occupied nests is fairly easy. But what about non-breeding adults and young eagles? How many are in the area?
   
   
   2. For the winter: Try to find out where the eagles are staying. Try to collect information. Some studies have been done and need to be put together. Do new studies. Find roost spots and feeding areas. Do banding experiments, and radio tagging.
   
   
   3. Find out how the nesting eagles are doing. Are there any changes from year to year? How many offspring are there in each nest? Are the young healthy?


2. Find out more about essential bald eagle habitats. These are places that the bald eagle needs to survive.
   1. For the breeding season: Find out about what all these places have in common. What can be done to make these areas safer for the eagles?
   
   
   2. For non-breeding adults and young: Where do these birds like to live?
   
   
   3. What about places that are like the occupied areas but have no eagles? What changes need to be made to make these areas attractive to eagles? Are there any records of eagles living here before? What about the winter? What do all occupied areas have in common? How can we change the unoccupied land so that eagles will stay in these areas in the winter?
   
   


3. Find out what steps need to be taken to help the eagles recover.
   1. Find out how many eagles are needed in each region to make the goal by the year 2000. Find out how many occupied nests and adult breeding birds we have now. Figure out how many are needed.
   
   
   2. What about the land? What changes need to be made so the goals can be met? For breeding? For wintering birds?
   
   


4. How can we help nesting eagles so that more babies survive?
   1. Bring young eagles or eggs into areas that need them. Take these from Alaska or other states with eagles that are listed as threatened.
   
   
   2. Try to raise young eagles in zoos or research centers.
   
   
   3. Get people who are raising eagles to communicate with each other.
   
   
   4. Keeping eagles alive:
      1. Get people to stop killing eagles. Teach them about eagles so they won't shoot them. Let them know it is against the law. Punish anyone caught killing an eagle. Let trappers know that eagles sometimes get into their traps. Tell them to stay away from places with a lot of eagles.
      
      
      2. Check all unhatched eggs and dead eagles for poison. Stop companies and farmers that are polluting the environment.
      
      
      3. Tell hunters to use steel shot instead of lead when they hunt birds.
      
      
      4. Find out which power lines are electrocuting birds. Change the power lines so that eagles won't hit them.
      
      
      5. Help sick or injured bald eagles get better.
      
      
      6. Take care of the places where eagles live. Take care of nesting and wintering areas. Talk to private land owners about helping eagles. Make plans for each area that eagles use.
      
      
      7. Take care of areas where eagles could live and breed. Talk to land owners. Make plans to help make these areas safe for the bald eagle.
   
   


5. Keep lines of communication open between all people involved with the bald eagle's recovery. Teach people about eagles. Write magazine articles to let people know how we're trying to help the eagle. Make movies about the bald eagle.