Bald eagle nest survey shows a drop in egg production across North Georgia
The Berry College bald eagle nest failed to produce any young eaglets this year, but that was not unusual among the nesting territories across North Georgia.
Bob Sargent, program manager with the Department of Natural Resources, said more than half of the nests north of a line from Rabun to Hall across Bartow and Floyd, then up to Dade counties failed to fledge young this year.
For the Berry nest, it marked the second unsuccessful year in row. Last year both of the eggs hatched but both young died within a week.
This year neither of the two eggs even hatched.
Heavier than normal rainfall from
January through March, the peak of the nesting season, is suspected to have been a major culprit, according to Sargent
Berry professor Renee Carleton said the nesting material, pine straw, which when it gets wet, holds water which can promote fungal and bacterial growth.
“I don’t think that people realize that egg shells have pores in them because the embryo has to receive oxygen from the outside as it’s developing,” Carleton said. “It’s very likely that there was early embryonic death and so no development because of those conditions.”
Professor Carleton said that even if the eggs had hatched, she felt it could have been likely the young could have contracted some sort of pneumonia-like disease and not survived.
“I think Bob’s evidence perfectly backs up that hypothesis,” Carleton said. “The coast didn’t have the same amount of rain we did so they had their typical success rate,” Carleton said.
Sargent and DNR staff conducted aerial surveys in three regions of the state this year, counting 117 active nests across six coastal counties, a section of East Georgia between I-85 and I-16 and the northern tier of the state. The northern counties included 15 nesting territories
Of the 117 active nests observed this year, 82 nests produces 126 young eagles which is roughly equivalent to the long term state average.
Six coastal counties, Bryan, Chatham, Glynn, Liberty, Camden and Mcintosh were home to at least 35 percent of the state’s active nests.
Of the 15 nests across the northern tier of the state, seven nests produced a total of 11 eaglets. Three of those came from
one nest at Lake Blue Ridge.
Carleton believes the North Georgia nesting population is a result of range expansion from the coastal areas. She credits the large man-made reservoirs, Weiss, Allatoona and Carters, with providing the habitat for the expansion of the population.
“Our weather conditions here fluctuate a lot more than they do on the coast so our populations here are going to be more sensitive to those fluctuations than the coastal birds are,” Carleton said.
The public is encouraged to report eagle nests via georgiawildlife.com/bald-eagle, 478-994-1438 or bob.sargent@dnr.ga.gov. Although de-listed from the federal Endangered Species Act in 2007, eagles are protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and state law. In Georgia, the species is state-listed as threatened.