There are a lot
of great things about working at World Bird Sanctuary. However, without a doubt, one of my
favorite things about working there is when I get to handle our national
symbol, the Bald Eagle.
Recently I had the
honor to travel to Boston College with one of our Bald Eagles. Their team name is the Eagles, so it
made a lot of sense to be there with one.
I went during a home football game. The eagle and I attended a pre-game
activity.
Beauford, one of our free flying Bald Eagles (photo: Erika Fenske)
For three wonderful
hours I got to talk to amazing fans about our national symbol. I am always captivated when listening
to people tell stories of when they have seen Bald Eagles in the wild, whether
it is sitting in a tree, flying overhead, or even fishing in a lake or river. There is absolutely nothing more
emotional or moving than when someone talks to me about how when they were
younger they remember that our national symbol was so rare.
Beauford enjoying some time in the sun between performances (photo: Mike Cerutti)
The Bald Eagle
became endangered due to overuse of pesticides, but now it can be a common sight in so many places in the
United States. You see, when DDT
and other pesticides were introduced to kill mosquitoes it made its way into
the rest of the environment as well, and eventually made its way into the
fish. When Bald Eagles ate those
fish, the pesticides gave them a calcium deficiency. That deficiency caused their eggshells to be so thin and
brittle that they would break as the mom and dad eagles tried to incubate their
eggs. This meant that there were
not many new baby Bald Eagles to replace the older ones when they passed
away. Eventually this caused Bald
Eagle numbers to plummet, and in 1963 there were only 487 nesting pairs of Bald
Eagles in our lower 48 states.
Thankfully DDT and
other pesticides have been banned, and because of breed and release programs
(including those done at World Bird Sanctuary), Bald Eagles have made a
monumental comeback. According to
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are now about 20,000 nesting pairs in
the lower 48 states.
Lena, a young Bald Eagle in training (photo: Leah Tyndall)
Young and old alike
should all be thankful for the recovery of this great nation's national
symbol. If you would like to see a
bald eagle up close or learn more about them, please come see them at World
Bird Sanctuary, free to the public and open every day of the year except
Thanksgiving and Christmas (barring closures for inclement weather).
Submitted by Mike
Cerutti, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist/Trainer
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