There is nothing more majestic than an eagle perching in a treetop or soaring effortlessly through the sky. Who doesn’t get a thrill from catching a glimpse of that white head as it reflects the sunlight coming through the clouds? There is no other sight like it in Maine or all North America.
It was just decades ago that the bald eagle nearly disappeared from our skies. Chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides such as DDT were limitlessly dumped into our environment to kill mosquitoes and other insects. These pesticides were transported into streams, rivers and lakes where they were consumed by microscopic aquatic life. These tiny creatures were eaten by small fish which were in turn eaten by larger fish. The pesticides traveled up through the food chain until they reached birds such as ospreys and eagles at the very top. Over time, these birds accumulated large levels of these pesticides in their bodies and the result was disastrous.
While the pesticides did not kill eagles outright, it did cause the females to produce thin shelled eggs that often broke before the young could hatch. Many other eggs were infertile and nonviable. Over time, as less and less young were produced, bald eagle numbers everywhere declined. Maine’s eagle population dropped to about 29 nesting pairs in 1972 when they produced only eight chicks. In the 1960’s and ‘70’s seeing a bald eagle in Maine was a very rare sight.
The drastic decline of birds such as bald eagles, ospreys and peregrine falcons, combined with the environmental movement of the late 1960’s led to the 1972 prohibition of use of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in the U.S. Here in Maine, as pesticide levels in birds and in the environment gradually declined, our bald eagle population gradually began to grow, and they were given a helping hand from biologists who transplanted viable eggs from the Great Lakes region into active Maine nests.
Bald eagles can live twenty or more years in the wild. They mate for life and each pair occupies a fixed territory that may contain several nests. They don’t mature until they are 4-5 years old, and until then they do not have the white head and tail feathers that make them readily identifiable. They are generalists, meaning that they can occupy many different types of environments from coastal Alaska to the tropical Everglades. They eat just about anything, dead or alive. They can be found scavenging landfill trash or roadkill. Live prey includes fish, smaller mammals, and birds such as ducks, gulls and young loons. They are generally found not far from water. A major threat to bald eagles in Maine is lead poisoning resulting from the ingestion of lead bullet fragments in dead game or discarded game meat scraps used as bait to kill coyotes.
Where can you go to see a bald eagle in Maine? The answer is just about anywhere. Today Maine has approximately 800 active bald eagle nests spread out over all sixteen counties.
Central Maine’s Kennebec County hosts the highest concentration of feeding bald eagles in Maine when alewives ascend the Sebasticook River to spawn each Spring. This one county hosts more than forty active eagle nests, mainly within a few miles of the Kennebec River. It is common to see eagles flying over the Kennebec River in downtown Augusta or Waterville. The river valley serves essentially as an eagle “highway”. Traveling by kayak or canoe from Waterville to Sidney is a virtual guarantee of seeing multiple eagles during the warm weather months.
While Maine’s bald eagle population has recovered, threats continue. In addition to persistent environmental contaminants such as mercury and lead, an unknown number of eagles are shot or electrocuted by power lines. Many young eagles die of starvation their first winter and others die of exposure while still in the nest.
Despite all these continued threats, Maine’s bald eagles are thriving. When you do see a bald eagle, remember that it has gone through a lot and has survived. As America’s national bird, it mirrors our nation’s own history of survival.
