Bald Eagle, Juneau, AK
The state of Wisconsin has undertaken the largest and most intensive Eagle Nest Watch program.
That’s after bald eagle nests failed at an alarmingly high rate this past year.
Jim Knickelbine, the Executive Director at Woodland Dunes Nature Center, told Seehafer News that the local preserve in Two Rivers is part of the Bald Eagle Nest Watch Program through the Madison Audubon Society.
“It’s important to track the reproductive success of birds like bald eagles, which not too long ago were endangered,” he explained. “Of this year were found nesting in every county in Wisconsin with the addition of Milwaukee County in 2022.”
Knickelbine revealed that his volunteers, “...go out once a week and monitor an eagle nest for an hour a week and note all the significant happenings during the course of the nesting season. That starts in February and usually ends in May or June depending on which part of the state you’re in.”
Knickelbine explained that the Avian Flu was the source of a spike in nest failures.
“It affected water birds, ducks, and sandpipers things like that which gather in large flocks,” he said. “Eagles will prey on birds like that, catch a sick or dying duck and bring it back to the nest and feed it to their young. It spread the flu that way, so that was the main reason for the past year being so bad for eagle reproduction.”
But, the Woodland Dunes leader said, “The good thing is that adult eagles live a long time and will nest a number of times in their 20-plus year lifespan, and hopefully they produce enough young.”
If interested in volunteering, either call or email the Woodland Dunes Nature Center.
