Eagle numbers up significantly

On this Fourth of July, the most patriotic of our holidays, it seems appropriate for an update on our national symbol, the bald eagle.

The news gets better each year for Georgia’s eagles. The final results of this year’s annual nesting surveys by the state Department of Natural Resources exceeded expectations.

Biologists conducting the surveys, mostly by helicopter, counted 124 occupied bald eagle “nesting territories,” 98 successful nests and 162 young fledged, said a happy Jim Ozier, head of the non-game program in DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division. That’s up significantly from last year, when 112 occupied territories, 85 successful nests —- those in which eagles are raised to the point they can fly —- and 134 eaglets were reported.

Several of the 13 documented new nests were found because of tips from the public. One nest was the first ever documented at Lake Blue Ridge in North Georgia. If you spot what you believe is a new eagle nest, or if you spy two or more eagles together, Ozier asks that you go to www.georgiawildlife.com and fill out a report form. Click on “conservation” and then on “species of concern,” then “bird conservation and then “Report Nesting Bald Eagles.”

A pair of bald eagles often will use the same nest year after year —- usually built in the tops of tall pine or cypress trees.

Each year, though, several established pairs of eagles build new nests. If the new nest is near the old, it is usually easy to find, Ozier said. Some nests, though, are much farther away and more difficult to locate.

Georgia’s eagles return to their nesting territories in late summer or early fall and usually have eggs by December. Nests are concentrated along the coast, but they can be found across the state, usually near major rivers or lakes. The young eaglets that fledged their nests in late winter of this year are now the same size as adults, but are dark brown, almost black. They will gain their characteristic white head and tail feathers at 4 to 5 years old.

Not only is the bald eagle our national symbol, it also is a poster child for how a species near extinction can be brought back to healthy levels. Because of habitat loss and use of the pesticide DDT, bald eagle numbers plummeted to a low point in the early 1980s, when only a handful remained in Georgia. Conservation laws, restoration work and a DDT ban helped the eagle recover. In 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the species from the federally threatened list.

In the sky: The moon will be full on Tuesday. The Cherokee peoples called July’s full moon “the ripe corn moon,” says David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum. Venus, shining brightly, rises in the east three hours before the sun. Mars is low in the east just before sunrise. Jupiter rises out of the east an hour after sunset and will appear close to the moon Friday night. Saturn is high in the west at sunset and sets before midnight.