Bald Eagle Numbers Soar in Nebraska

The number of Bald Eagle nesting within Nebraska had a dramatic increase in 2016. There were 158 active nests recorded, compared to 118 in 2015, according to a report recently issued by the nongame wildlife program of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Records on nesting activity and locales have been kept for at least a decade, with agency surveys and a compilation of contributed information methodology being used by agency staff since 2012.

In north-central Nebraska, these eagles nested in Brown county (two sites), Keya Paha county (two sites), Cherry county (at ten localities), as well as Grant and Hooker counties which each had one known nest. There were no known nests in Thomas or Sheridan counties.

In addition to surveys by the state agency, information was also provided by federal agency staff, non-governmental groups and public power districts. Numerous individuals also contributed useful information. Carolyn Semin contributed details on a new nest in the south Kilgore vicinity. Information for Cherry county was also provided by staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service. Special thanks was given to "Dr. Joseph Gubanyi and his biology students for monitoring several nests in eastern Nebraska and to a Niobrara High School science class for monitoring nests in northeast Nebraska," the report said.

An active nest can be used for many years, with more sticks piled on annually, so nests often become quite large and thus very obvious to observers.

This raptor starts nesting in late winter, so pairs are currently establishing their home territory and repairing or preparing their nest. It takes many weeks to incubate a clutch of eggs and then nourish the young to an age when they fledge and fly away from their nest haven.

Nests in Cherry county notably occur along the Niobrara River and in the lake country of the eastern and central portion of the county. There may be nests near lakes in the southwest portion of the county, but are likely not realized due to the lack of bird-watching activity in the area. An especially nice, repeatedly successful nest is in the Niobrara valley, atop a fine tree just a short distance south of the heart city. In the interior sandhills, nests occur by lakes that have a large tree that can support the mass of sticks of a nest. In the eastern extent of the region, the species occurs along many of the primary rivers.

The first modern-era nest of this eagle apparently occurred in 1991 in eastern Nebraska, according to the report. The number of known nests has continued to increase each subsequent year. The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) was removed from the federal list of threatened or endangered species in 2007, and from a corresponding Nebraska list in 2008.

FWS Begins New NEPA Analysis of Eagle Management and Take Permits

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced a process to engage the public as it works toward revising a rule governing how permits are issued for the non-purposeful take of bald and golden eagles. FWS will host five public information meetings in various locations around the country and open a 90-day public comment period. The meetings will be held on July 22, 2014, in Sacramento, Calif.; July 24, 2014, in Minneapolis, Minn.; July 29, 2014, in Albuquerque, N.M.; July 31, 2014, in Denver, Colo.; and Aug. 7, 2014, in Washington, D.C. For more information about the public information meetings, please visit http://www.eaglescoping.org.

The public information sessions will serve as scoping meetings as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). FWS will review information from the meetings and use it to prepare either a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and proposed revisions to the permit regulations. The Service will then open another comment period for an additional round of public review and input before finalizing the EA/EIS and revised permit regulations.

FWS is requesting information related to its 2009 permit regulations, eagle management objectives, and the December 2013 decision extending the maximum duration for eagle take permits from five to 30 years. Written comments must be submitted on or before Sept. 22, 2014, either electronically: Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov, FWS-R2- MB-2011-0094 or by U.S. mail to Public Comments Processing, Attention: Eagle Management and Permitting FWS-R2-MB-2011-0094; Division of Policy and Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 2042-PDM, Arlington, VA 22203.

FWS Action a Disgrace to Eagles

by Jim Wiegand

On April 26 the Fish and Wildlife Service released a statement that claims their Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance "fosters protection for bald and golden eagles." This is true, but so what? The carefully chosen word "fosters" is just another indication of posturing by an agency that went bad some time ago. The word foster means to encourage. How about this agency coming clean and using the words "does protect the bald and golden eagles"? The word "foster" is no better that the word "voluntary" which is used to describe the "voluntary regulations" this agency has for the wind industry.

The FWS Bald and Golden Eagle Conservation plan is a disgrace. How could any plan be developed when so many facts have been hidden? How could any plan be developed when so many fraudulent studies have been created? This plan should be called for what it really is, "the eagle extermination plan" because it is nothing but a legal shell game which allows the wind industry to legally kill bald and golden eagles. The "no net loss" criteria used by the FWS is a convenient excuse to hand out their kill or "take" permits. It all is just more of the same "encouragement" with "voluntary regulations."

With encouragement and voluntary regulations the FWS has helped the wind industry destroy the historical habitat for the California condor. If it were not for the feeding stations keeping them from the turbines the condor population would now be extinct except for in captivity.

With encouragement and voluntary regulations The FWS has allowed the wind industry to develop the central Flyway habitat with many thousands of wind turbines. This region includes the Prairie Pothole Region sometimes referred to "North America’s duck factory." Encouragement and voluntary regulations have allowed the prairie's ponds and potholes to be invaded by huge deadly turbines and no one has been told about the terrible toll.

With the encouragement and voluntary regulations the profiteers looking to score our tax dollars have nothing to stop them.

Jim Wiegand is an independent wildlife expert with decades of field observations and analytical work. He is vice president of the US region of Save the Eagles International, an organization devoted to researching, protecting and preserving avian species threatened by human encroachment and development.

Bald Eagle Eats a Squirrel in the Neighborhood

It was a really cold day in the Carthage neighborhood when a wandering squirrel caught the attention of a mighty eagle soaring in the skies.

The little animal was then caught by a Bald Eagle, which fed upon the carcass at a small open space on the north side of the neighborhood, in the middle of east Omaha.

Nearby, as seen by an attentive watcher, another eagle was perched upon the chain-link fence.

This perspective is based upon comments by a working resident in the neighborhood. at the local convenience store at 49th and Hamilton Street. Someone called the clerk on Monday, to convey that there were some big birds outside the window of their nearby apartment.

Walt, at the store, knows about eagles. During many transitory discussions, several have been in regards to bald eagles and video-cams at nest places, which have been enjoyed by his family members. So, Walt knows what a bald eagle look likes. And there they were, two large eagles with white heads, just a short distance from the back door of the store. It was an especially significant time, as he had never been so close to these birds.

On this particular Monday, Walt expressed the essential details to indicate this surprising occurrence. Though these birds had already been seen a few times in the air-space of the neighborhood., their occurrence on the ground is certainly unusual.

For two to linger amidst the completely urban neighborhood is certainly a dramatic occurrence. Apparently they also got some consideration by residents, and were not disturbed or chased away!

Empty lot habitat used by Bald Eagles.

An Eagle With a Sleigh Bell

On the 22nd of December, 1884, a large bald-headed eagle was noticed at Cortlandt, a town in Westchester County. It attracted much attention, because it had about its neck a sleigh bell, the ringing of which could e distinctly heard by all who saw it. On Saturday last the New-London Telegram reported the capture of a bald-headed eagle wearing a sleigh bell about its neck at Old Lynn, Conn. It is supposed that the bird was the same one which gave a surprise to Westchester County people. The same bird occasioned much consternation along the southern shore of Connecticut, in the vicinity of Niantic and Lynn. Fishermen and sailors have for about two years past been both startled and mystified by hearing a bell ringing in the air above them, and until the capture of this eagle and its queer adornment no satisfactory explanation of the sound has ever been given.

March 18, 1886. New York Times.

A New Kind of Watchdog

W. Kerrick, who lives in one of the Jackson cottages on L street, has a patriotic but peculiar guardian for his garden, the same being a genuine living American eagle of the bald head variety, measuring several feet, more or less, from tip to tip, and looking for all the world as if he had just hopped off the back side of a ten-dollar piece. This biped was purchased a few weeks since from a man who slightly shot and captivated him near Stockton. His wings were clipped, and Kerrick turned him loose at once in the garden, on patrol. The bird of liberty forthwith took possession, and has become monarch of all he surveys. Little children are frightened to a respectful distance by the demoniacal expression of his august countenance, and woe betides the cat, rat, pigeon or other small creature that strays within reach of his powerful talons. He has become remarkably tame, considering the short time he has been in custody. Of a warm day he goes every few hours to a large tub near the kitchen door, takes a deliberate drink, and then gets in and wallows about, in a rather undignified manner, for a royal bird. Then he perches himself on a sort of bench beneath a fig tree, to dry his bedraggled feathers, winking solemnly meantime, and if anybody comes near him he warns him away by making the remark, "Krake! krake! krake!" in the most preemptory tones. When he is not ducking or drying himself he perambulates the garden, seeking whom he may devour, and no urchin is going to steal fruit from that garden as long as that eagle "still lives."

April 21, 1864. Sacramento Daily Union 27(4082): 3.