I was in Hard Labor Creek State Park in Morgan County east of Atlanta last weekend, trying to catch a glimpse of some of the park’s newest residents, a pair of bald eagles. Their big stick-and-limb nest is atop a tall pine at the edge of the park’s 275-acre Lake Rutledge.
Squinting through binoculars, Phil Delestrez, state parks resource manager, and I spotted the nest from a vantage point across the lake. We didn’t want to get any closer to the nest to avoid harassing the birds. State biologists confirmed in February that the eagles were nesting there.
The 5,804-acre Hard Labor Creek preserve, Georgia’s second largest state park, becomes the second state park to host nesting bald eagles. Reed Bingham State Park near Adel in South Georgia’s Cook County has had a nesting pair every year since 2005.
Overall, the news is very good across the state about this season's bald eagle production. The number of eagle nests in Georgia has been steadily climbing since the Department of Natural Resources first started searching for the birds about two decades ago.
According to eagle survey leader Jim Ozier, aerial surveys in January and March documented at least 158 occupied nesting territories, 116 successful nests and 190 young fledged. The totals are up from last year’s 142 nesting territories, 111 successful nests and 175 eaglets. Considering that bald eagles were on the brink of extinction 40 years ago, it’s an amazing comeback.
One of the new nests this season was on Lake Lanier, the first for the 38,000-acre reservoir.
Bald eagle pairs, which usually mate for life, mostly build their bulky nests in tall trees -- usually pines or cypresses -- along lakes and rivers because of the birds’ preference for fish, waterfowl and turtles. Older nests can weigh as much as a ton. Because of the eagles' tendency to live near water, it is not surprising that the biggest concentration of Georgia's eagles is along the coast.
Ozier said, however, that eagle nests are turning up “in places I never would have thought they’d show up.”
For instance, an eagle pair this spring set up housekeeping for the first time on the sprawling campus of Berry College in Rome. Biologists found the nest site when they spotted an eagle carrying sticks to it. Also, a nest was discovered on a farm in the middle part of the state that is not near a major water body.
Even though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed bald eagles from the federally threatened list in 2008, the birds are still protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and other federal and state laws. The laws impose severe penalties for harming the birds.
In the sky: The moon is in last quarter, rising about midnight and setting around midday, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Over the coming week, watch for the moon to shrink to a thin crescent. Mercury is low in the east just before dawn and will appear near the moon Thursday morning. Venus, shining brightly, is in the west just after dark and sets about three hours later. Mars rises out of the east a few hours after sunset. Jupiter is very low in the west at dusk. Saturn rises out of the east a few hours after sunset.
If You Go
Hard Labor Creek State Park
Encompassing 5,804 acres, it is Georgia’s second largest state park. Its 24 miles of trails take hikers and horseback riders through a mosaic of upland pine and hardwood forest, steep-walled creek bottoms, granite outcrops, old fields, broad floodplain forest and man-made lakes. Fishing and boating are allowed in the 275-acre Lake Rutledge. A lakeside beach is open for sunning and swimming during summer. The park’s 18-hole golf course has a driving range and rental carts. Camping areas, rental cabins and group picnic shelters also are available in the park.
Directions: From Atlanta, travel 50 miles east on I-20. Take exit 105 and follow signs to Hard Labor Creek State Park.
Restroom facilities available at several areas in park. $5 parking fee.
Park Office: Hard Labor Creek State Park, 5 Hard Labor Creek Road, Rutledge, Ga. 30663. Telephone: 706-557-3001.
http://www.gastateparks.org/HardLaborCreek
