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Show Bald Eagle No. increases , The National Wildlife Fed-eration Fed-eration has reported that its first cencus of bald eagles jn the "lower 48" states, taken during two weeks of January, Janu-ary, 1979, produced a count of 9,836 eagles-nearly twice the number counted in any previous survey of the endangered national bird. The census was taken between January 13 and 27 by more than 2,600 counters, representing 39 state wildlife and six federal agencies and 72 private conservation organizations, or-ganizations, according to William S. Clark, director of the NWF's Raptor Information Informa-tion Center. i Gark attributed the surprisingly surpris-ingly high count of nearly 10,000 bald eagles-6,196 adults, 3,413 immature birds, and 227 of indeterminate indetermin-ate age--to the "intensity" of the NWF survey and the fact that its participants, under the guidance of 43 eagle experts serving as regional coordinators, were looking only for eagles. A midwinter waterfowl eagle inventory conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during the first week of January reported only 5,315 eagle-sightings--a figure fi-gure that Clark attributed to the wildlife service's "primary "pri-mary interest" in waterfowl. The same USFWS waterfowleagle water-fowleagle inventory last year counted only 4,516 bald eagles in the "lower 48." "We sent people into many eagle habitats where they (the USFWS counters) just don't go when they are looking primarily for waterfowl," water-fowl," Clark explained. Clark estimated that most of the bald eagles counted in both the NWF survey and the USFWS inventory were "immigrants"--winter visitors visit-ors who fly down from Alaska and Canada when cold weather interferes with their hunting and feeding north of the border. Alaska has a summertime bald eagle population estimated at up to 50,000 and Canada's summer sum-mer bald eagle population is estimated at 40,000 to . 45,000. , A resident of year-round population of about 5,000 eagles in the lower 48 states would place the bald 'eagle population for the North American continent at about 100,000. The bald eagle has been listed by the Interior Department Depart-ment as an "endangered species" in 43 of the contiguous states and " threatened" in five others-Minnesota, others-Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington-since February of 1978. The NWF survey covered only the lower 48 states because the national bird is plentiful in the 49th state, Alaska, and non-existent in the 50th, Hawaii. Although the total of 9,836 bald eagles tallied in the . NWF census was much higher than in previous counts, Clark said the new survey does "not ncessarily" confirm the widely-held belief be-lief that bald eagles have -made a "comeback" in the U.S. since some deadly pesticides were outlawed in the early 1970s. "We just haven't had good nationwide figures in the past," said Clar, "and in this survey we probably counted only a fraction of all the bald eagles either nesting or roosting here during those weeks in January. But we have established a reference point." The results of future NWF surveys, Clark said, will be invaluable: The results of future NWF surveys, Clark said, will be invaluable: "Concentrations of eagles will, of course, tell us where the best habitats are and this will tell us the roosting birds' needs. If the population in one area suddenly declines, we can try to find out why. Was it pollution or deterioration deterior-ation of habitat? We want to learn to be good hosts to our wintering bald eagles." Jay Sheppard, staff ornithologist ornith-ologist for the U.S. Office of Endangered Species, agreed with Clark that the high count was not indicative of a comeback. "It's too hard to judge because a whole new method of counting was used . in this survey," he said. But another eagle expert, Jim Ruos, nongame bird si ;cialist in the Office of Migratory Bird Management ' of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, thought the survey "tended to confirm" that the bald eagle is making a come b .ok. "It shows that this bird is in pretty good shape throughout through-out a good part of his range," said Ruos, "The ratio of young to mature birds is also fairly high-and that's a good sign. Some populations are still depress-ed--for instance along the York River and the James River in Virginia, where we have bad pollution problems. B.ut overall it is apparent that eagle productivity is up." In the NWF cencus, 1,295 birds counted along the Mississippi River flyway between the river's source, in Minnesota, and its confluence conflu-ence with the Ohio River, at Cairo, TIL, were not credited to any state but to the flyway. Of these, 39 were counted above Dubuque, Iowa, and 1,256 were counted count-ed below that point. The upper Mississippi Valley Vall-ey count was directed by Elton Fawks, of East Moline, 111., a veteran of 23 bald eagle surveys in that area. "There's definitely been a bald eagle comeback," said Fawks, who attributed this year's high count partly to restrictions placed on the use of pesticides in the early 1970's and partly to the fact that "more bald eagles are using the Mississippi Valley as wintering ground each year." The use of DDT was virtually outlawed in 1972. In the period from 1962 to 1966, when DDT and other deadly pesticides were in wide use, only 20 percent of the aid eagles wintering along the Mississippi were yound or immature, Fawks pointed out, while this year the proportion of immatures jumped to 30.5 percent in his area. Washington state, with 1,126 sightings reported the biggest bald , eagle population popula-tion among the states surveyed. sur-veyed. Runners-up were Californie, with 810; Florida, 675; Oklahoma, 581; Oregon, 494; Texas, 435; Idaho, 392; Arkansas, 379; and Wyoming, Wyo-ming, 365. Eagles were sighted in all but three states-New Hampshire, Hamp-shire, Vermont, and West Virginia. Bad weather may have interfered with the census in those states, said Clark. Bitterly cold weather and frozen lakes may also have affected the count in Minnesota, which reported only three sightings despite the fact that the state hosts a fairly large eagle population in the summertime. Another state count which Clark felt was incomplete was in Florida, where the tally was based mostly on a count of eagle nests rather than actual bird sightings. The Raptor Information Center, established in 1976 by the National Wildlife Federation as a clearing house for date on eagles and other birds of prey, is working on a more intensive analysis of the survey. The analysis will provide information infor-mation on eagle distribution vital to local bald eagle management, especially in inventorying public lands for potention designation as "critical habitat." |
