Recently, I saw a TV news segment about bald eagles in Brooklyn and in NY parks. It amazes people but it's a good sign. The bald eagle population in New Jersey also continues to climb.
According to the 2022 New Jersey Bald Eagle Project Report developed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Fish and Wildlife and the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, there were 250 active nests identified last year.
An active nest means one that produced eggs. The latest numbers represent an increase of 28 active nests since 2021. Of those nests, 83 percent were successful and collectively produced 335 offspring. The productivity rate for nests with known outcomes was 1.42 young per nest, which is above the range required to maintain healthy population numbers.
You may recall that New Jersey had just one surviving bald eagle nest into the 1970s and 1980s – a pair in a remote part of Cumberland County – due to widespread use of DDT. This synthetic insecticide had lasting impacts on the food chain, accumulating in fish that eagles eat and causing eagles to lay thin-shelled eggs that could not withstand incubation. The federal government banned DDT in 1972.
Recovery efforts in New Jersey began in the early 1980s, with the reintroduction of eagles from Canada and artificial incubation and fostering efforts, efforts that started to pay discernible dividends throughout the 1990s.
The 250 active nests confirmed in 2022 represent a more than two-fold increase over the 10-year period beginning in 2013, when 119 active nests were counted. The Delaware Bay region remained the state’s eagle stronghold, with roughly half of all nests located in Cumberland and Salem counties and the bayside of Cape May County.
“New Jersey continues to collect high-quality data on the health and productivity of its bald eagles, which is no small feat given the species’ ever-growing numbers. Other states increasingly look to New Jersey’s volunteer-based monitoring program as a guiding example of how to monitor this species efficiently and effectively in this latest stage of its recovery. It is a fitting moment to recognize these successes, as the Endangered Species Act, which supported this inspiring recovery, now celebrates 50 years,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Northeast Eagle Coordinator, Thomas Wittig.
The federal government removed the bald eagle from its list of endangered species in 2007, reflecting a strong gain in the population throughout the nation. The current bald eagle protection status in New Jersey, however, remains state-endangered during the breeding season and state-threatened for the non-breeding season. The greatest threats to bald eagles in New Jersey are disruptive human activity in nesting and foraging areas and habitat loss.
MORE INFORMATION
dep.nj.gov/njfw/wildlife/raptors-in-new-jersey/#eagle
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