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Text Box: Bald Eagle Counts. Originally started by Elton Fawks, Ingram inherited the count about 30 years ago. On one day—this year on Jan. 30—hundreds of volunteers collaborate to count eagle from northern Minnesota to Tennessee. The idea is to get the clearest snapshot of how the bird is faring. That’s why we do it over two hours,” he says. “I can eliminate duplication and try to get as accurate a count as possible.” Even with his numbers, at first glance, the eagle seems to be faring rather well. There were 470 of them in the 1961 midwinter count, compared to more than 3,000 in 2007 and 2008. But in 2008, the total dropped to 2,192. There have been some pretty dramatic swings over other years. Ingram says the danger is underscored by the dropping number of immature birds, since their number peaked in 2001. “We don’t know why it went down. We don’t know why they came back,” Ingram says. “Now it’s going down again, and we don’t know why.” He suspects West Nile Virus may play a part, but the bigger issue is loss of food and habitat as land is developed. Although he tipped his hat to Gov. Pat Quinn for help protecting eagles at Plum Island, Ingram notes many other pressures on the population. “As we plan for future development all agencies must take the bald eagle into account before we destroy more vital habitat, or we may lose our national symbol sooner than you think,” he said. Whether it’s a one-day drive up the river or a one-day count through the Midwest, factors from weather to eagle-spotting experience make a difference. The 2009 Illinois Audubon Society Count reflected Ingram’s results, dropping almost 30 percent from 2008. But state executive director Tom Clay says the focus should not be on one or two years, but on the trend over 10 or 15 or 30 years. And that trend is up. “Now is a good time to talk about it,” he says. “They’re here. People call Audubon and want to know: Where do we see eagles? Our answer is to look up.” Anecdotally, several local bird aficionados say the same. Brett Ericksen says eagle numbers may even be higher than usual near the Sun Foundation in Lacon; Randy Root says there is open water on his property for waterfowl where an eagles’ wintering roost has had 40 to 120 birds nightly in the past. “To put it simply, there is without a doubt an ever-increasing bald eagle population over the last 15 years or so along the Illinois River,” Root says via e-mail. “Both in wintering populations and in local breeding populations.” John Mullen, chief naturalist at Forest Park Nature Center, said he counted 18 eagles from Rome to the south end of Chillicothe on Jan. 3. Half of them were immature. Mullen helps with the Midwinter Eagle Count, and is not as worried about the percentage of mature birds as Ingram. “That percentage has decreased somewhat of late, but not drastically and may not denote anything more than a temporary leveling off of the population, a saturation of habitat, a couple of years of food disruption, or something else,” Mullen says via e-mail. “Nationally, there are now approximately 10,000 bald eagle nesting pairs in the lower 48 states as opposed to a low of 417 in 1963. Those are some of the (Continued on Page 9)

Text Box: lovers, naturalists are learning there are many more golden eagles wintering in Wisconsin than previously thought, and the birds probably were here all along. Far from being off-course loners as once assumed, these birds are turning out to be part of a population of 100 or so consistent visitors who make their home in the state from November through March, said Mark Martell, director of bird conservation for Audubon Minnesota. The finding has conservation implications, but there’s also a simple “wow” factor, he said. “These birds are cool, just cool,” Martell said. “Here’s this huge, predatory bird that we weren’t even aware was here on a regular basis.” Their presence raises a serious issue—how best to protect them—and poses a mystery, said Mark Peterson, executive director of Audubon Minnesota. “The detective story is: Where do they come from?” The current interest in the wintering golden eagles, which differ considerably from bald eagles, can be traced to an annual bird survey launched five years ago by Scott Mehus, education director of the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minn. Mehus thought golden eagles might be more prevalent than assumed, so he put together a group of volunteers focused solely on trying to spot them in the hills near the Mississippi River along the Minnesota and Wisconsin border. This rigorous survey effort, coupled with improved optical equipment, has turned up dozens of golden eagles each of the last five years. One day last year, about 100 observers spotted 70 distinct golden eagles. Because of the finding, Audubon Minnesota, the National Eagle Center, and the Departments of Natural Resources in Minnesota and Wisconsin embarked this year on a three-year project to better understand the biology and management needs of golden eagles. They are focusing on the inland hills and valleys on either side of the Mississippi River from Prescott to south of Prairie du Chien, a strip for about 200 miles. The bird is considered a threatened species in Canada, but not in the U.S., Peterson said. There are an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 nesting pairs of golden eagles in the lower 48 states, so the ones in Wisconsin are a small portion of the total population, Mehus said. Answers to some questions are starting to come from Whitey, a globe-trotting golden eagle who came onto the scene about a year ago. Caught in a leg-hold trap set for a coyote, the bird was rehabilitated, then equipped with a solar-powered radio transmitter. Since March, he has been sending back data every few days. Researchers particularly wanted to know where the Wisconsin golden eagles go in summer and spring. They figured the birds came from northern Ontario near Canada’s Hudson Bay, but Whitey kept flying farther north, ending up above the Arctic Circle. “Holy Moses, nobody expected him to go there,” said Mehus, who named Whitey because the bird’s crown appeared lighter than a female golden eagle Whitey was associating with. Whitey is back in Wisconsin now, hanging out mostly in Buffalo and Trempealeau counties. Researchers say it’s too soon to draw conclusions from his data. They hope to band three more golden eagles to join him. “This is a pretty special population to us in the Midwest, and we want to make sure everything is being done to conserve this population and hopefully make it grow,” Peterson said. Meanwhile, bird lovers such as Sharon Stiteler of Minneapolis are just enjoying the view. “It’s an incredibly powerful bird that is really quite stunning to see,” said Stiteler, who goes by the nickname “The Bird Chick” and said she’s spotted several golden eagles in Minnesota and Wisconsin. “The fact that they’re picking this area to winter is a compliment. That says we’re doing something right to protect their habitat.” ■ Reprinted from Wisconsin State Journal, 12-27-09

Text Box: To spot a golden eagle, Wisconsin residents typically thought they had to travel 1,000 or more miles west, where the large raptors can be found in sizable numbers year-round. Sightings here for years were minimal and scattered, limited to a few each winter along the state’s western border. Now, in a development both thrilling and perplexing to bird