The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘An exciting conservation story’
State’s bald eagle population continues a trend of growth
Connecticut’s bald eagle population continues a trend of steady growth, according to state and federal agencies.
Volunteers with the 2023 Midwinter Eagle Survey counted 185 birds in the state, including 121 adults, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced this week. The 2022 survey tallied 176 total eagles. The survey is part of a longstanding national effort coordinated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In Connecticut, 221 volunteers participated.
The number of eagles in the state has been growing since 1979, according to DEEP. The latest figures, however, do not necessarily confirm a year-over-year increase in Connecticut’s population of bald eagles, agency spokesman Paul Copleman said Friday.
“We’d be cautious about unconditionally saying that there was a population increase between 2022 and 2023,” Copleman said, “but we do continue to observe an upward trend, which is an exciting conservation story, and great for bird watchers, photographers, and the overall health of the ecosystem.”
Survey data can vary annually based on weather during the count, including visibility and the weather’s impact on volunteers. But the results do reinforce the trend of a growing population of wintering eagles over the past 40 years in Connecticut, Copleman said.
By the 1950s, bald eagles were no longer nesting in Connecticut. The nation’s symbol was first declared an endangered species with the passage of the federal Endangered Species Act in 1973. Populations started to rebound due to the ban on the pesticide DDT, successful reintroduction programs, and habitat and nest protection measures.
In 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified the bald eagle from endangered to threatened in the lower 48 states. Populations continued to recover enough that, in 2007, the eagle was officially removed from the federal Endangered Species List. The birds are still protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
In Connecticut, the first postDDT nesting territory was established in 1992. Over the past decade, the number of eagle territories in the state has more than tripled and nesting eagles are now widespread and present in every county.
At the Shepaug Eagle Observatory in Souhbury, the current season opened in December and extends to March 10. Last season marked a record year for eagle sightings at the observatory, with 32 eagles spotted on a single day, the most recorded since 1985, organizers said.
Bald eagles do face challenges, however.
“While we don’t see a single overriding threat to the eagle population,” Copleman said, “the eagles are faced with habitat loss, accidental deaths due to collisions with vehicles and utility lines, disease and ingestion of toxins (including lead and rodenticides).”
In March, a rescued bald eagle died at a Place Called Hope, a raptor rehabilitation center in Killingworth. The eagle tested positive for rodenticide, said Christine Cummings, president of the nonprofit facility.
Wildlife advocates have been pressing state lawmakers to ban the sale and use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs). A bill is expected to be introduced in the General Assembly’s coming session to limit use of the pesticides.