HINTON - Are eagles nesting in the lower New River Gorge area? That's the question Pipestem State Park naturalist Jim Phillips and a small army of binocular-wielding volunteers have been trying hard to answer in recent years.
HINTON - Are eagles nesting in the lower New River Gorge area?
That's the question Pipestem State Park naturalist Jim Phillips and a small army of binocular-wielding volunteers have been trying hard to answer in recent years.
On the lookout for eagles at a vantage point overlooking Bluestone Lake are (from left) Jeff Hajenga and Wendy and Ron Perrone.
"For the past five years, bald eagles have been seen here every month of the year, and in recent years, it's been something like 49 of 52 weeks," said Phillips. "We're getting enough sightings of mature eagles in the area during nesting season that nesting must be taking place here somewhere."
In addition to keeping tabs on year-round eagle sightings in Southern West Virginia, Phillips has for the past three years coordinated an annual Mid-Winter Eagle Watch along the New and Bluestone rivers from the Virginia border north to Sandstone Falls.
During this January's Eagle Watch, 31 volunteers spotted a total of nine bald eagles and one immature golden eagle. The results were so promising that Phillips decided to add an early spring watch, held last Saturday, in an effort to spot eagles lingering in the area and possibly detect signs of courtship and nest-building activity.
Another 31 volunteer spotters took part in Saturday's watch, covering 12 observation sites along the lower New, Bluestone and Greenbrier rivers. This time, 16 eagle sightings were reported, but an analysis of the bird descriptions and times of sightings indicated that some of the same eagles were observed at multiple sites.
After talking to the observers and analyzing their reports, Phillips determined that Saturday's watch turned up six individual bald eagles and two golden eagles. Two of the bald eagles were mature, while a third was determined to be a fourth-year bird - one year shy of maturity. Two of the remaining bald eagles were second-year birds while the last eagle was in its first year.
One of the golden eagles was a mature bird while the other had not yet reached breeding age.
"Most of Saturday's sightings were within four or five miles of Bluestone Dam," said Phillips, who was among observers spotting eagles near Bluestone Lake.
"Nobody reported seeing anything like courtship or breeding behavior," said Phillips, "but by knowing where the adults were spotted, we'll be able to concentrate our search for nest sites. I hope to get out in a kayak or canoe and take a closer look."
"Based on the fact that eagles of breeding age are seen here during nesting season, it's almost certain that they're nesting here," said Jeff Hajenga of the Division of Natural Resources Wildlife Diversity Program. "We just don't know where."
Hajenga joined Ron and Wendy Perrone of the Three Rivers Avian Center and WVU wildlife student Sarah Miller during Saturday's watch at a roadside viewpoint overlooking an expanse of the lake just off W.Va. 20. During the Mid-Winter Eagle Watch at the same observation point in January, two adult and three immature bald eagles could be seen throughout the day.
"We watched them bathe and preen, and saw the juvies get chased away by the mature eagles," said Wendy Perrone. "We saw a first-year eagle wheel in on a fish - it was so ready - but the fish was gone by the time he got there. You could almost hear the adults laughing as they watched."
HINTON - Are eagles nesting in the lower New River Gorge area?
That's the question Pipestem State Park naturalist Jim Phillips and a small army of binocular-wielding volunteers have been trying hard to answer in recent years.
"For the past five years, bald eagles have been seen here every month of the year, and in recent years, it's been something like 49 of 52 weeks," said Phillips. "We're getting enough sightings of mature eagles in the area during nesting season that nesting must be taking place here somewhere."
In addition to keeping tabs on year-round eagle sightings in Southern West Virginia, Phillips has for the past three years coordinated an annual Mid-Winter Eagle Watch along the New and Bluestone rivers from the Virginia border north to Sandstone Falls.
During this January's Eagle Watch, 31 volunteers spotted a total of nine bald eagles and one immature golden eagle. The results were so promising that Phillips decided to add an early spring watch, held last Saturday, in an effort to spot eagles lingering in the area and possibly detect signs of courtship and nest-building activity.
Another 31 volunteer spotters took part in Saturday's watch, covering 12 observation sites along the lower New, Bluestone and Greenbrier rivers. This time, 16 eagle sightings were reported, but an analysis of the bird descriptions and times of sightings indicated that some of the same eagles were observed at multiple sites.
After talking to the observers and analyzing their reports, Phillips determined that Saturday's watch turned up six individual bald eagles and two golden eagles. Two of the bald eagles were mature, while a third was determined to be a fourth-year bird - one year shy of maturity. Two of the remaining bald eagles were second-year birds while the last eagle was in its first year.
One of the golden eagles was a mature bird while the other had not yet reached breeding age.
"Most of Saturday's sightings were within four or five miles of Bluestone Dam," said Phillips, who was among observers spotting eagles near Bluestone Lake.
"Nobody reported seeing anything like courtship or breeding behavior," said Phillips, "but by knowing where the adults were spotted, we'll be able to concentrate our search for nest sites. I hope to get out in a kayak or canoe and take a closer look."
"Based on the fact that eagles of breeding age are seen here during nesting season, it's almost certain that they're nesting here," said Jeff Hajenga of the Division of Natural Resources Wildlife Diversity Program. "We just don't know where."
Hajenga joined Ron and Wendy Perrone of the Three Rivers Avian Center and WVU wildlife student Sarah Miller during Saturday's watch at a roadside viewpoint overlooking an expanse of the lake just off W.Va. 20. During the Mid-Winter Eagle Watch at the same observation point in January, two adult and three immature bald eagles could be seen throughout the day.
"We watched them bathe and preen, and saw the juvies get chased away by the mature eagles," said Wendy Perrone. "We saw a first-year eagle wheel in on a fish - it was so ready - but the fish was gone by the time he got there. You could almost hear the adults laughing as they watched."
Ron Perrone said one fact that could aid searchers looking for a nest is the fact that bald eagles virtually always build their nests within direct line of sight of a body of water.
One eagle nest was found along the Greenbrier River near Caldwell two years ago, but no breeding activity was detected, and the nest was vacant last year. A canoeist reportedly spotted another eagle's nest two years ago along the south end of Bluestone Lake near the Bertha Campground in Bluestone Wildlife Management Area, but searchers following up on the tip failed to find the nest.
"You'd think that it would be easy to see a nest as big as a table made out of big sticks," said Phillips. "But the eagles don't want to be seen, so they can make their nests pretty hard to find."
Bald eagle nests can be gigantic - up to 20 feet across, 12 feet deep and weighing up to two tons. They can be used and reused for decades, with occupants adding more sticks and lining materials, such as moss, pine needles and grass, each year.
Bald eagles develop their trademark white head and tail after they are 4 years old. The beaks of immature bald eagles are dark until reaching their third year, when they begin to turn yellow, becoming fully yellow by age 4.
Among volunteers spotting eagles on Saturday were J. Ray, Rodney and Courtney Davis, who, from their vantage point at Hinton's Bellepoint Park, just below Bluestone Dam, saw a golden eagle riding thermal air currents above the dam, and two juvenile bald eagles.
Near the boat launch area at Bluestone Lake, Sharon Kearns of Hillsboro photographed an adult bald eagle who drank, then bathed in the lake, before flying to a nearby tree to preen.
While eagle sightings now occur statewide in West Virginia and two dozen bald eagles are known to nest in a remote stretch of the South Branch of the Potomac River in the state's Eastern Panhandle, eagles were rarely seen here prior to the 1980s.
Widespread use of the pesticide DDT during the 1950s and '60s brought bald eagles to the brink of extinction in all states but Alaska. Chemicals within the pesticide inhibited eggshell strength, allowing few young eagles to survive through incubation.
Bald eagles did not begin re-establishing nests in West Virginia until 1981, when a nest was spotted in the Trough section of the Potomac's South Branch near the Grant-Hardy County line. In addition to the South Branch, bald eagles have occasionally nested along the West Virginia side of the Ohio River.
"Will we find a nest in Southern West Virginia? Oh, yeah - eventually," Phillips said. "There are just so many eagles being seen, and the sightings are getting more concentrated."
To contact staff writer Rick Steelhammer, use e-mail or call 348-5169.
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