Bald eagles thrive on Georgia’s coast

Georgia’s bald eagle population continues to soar, with above-average nesting success in all areas checked, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources reports.

One of those areas was Coastal Georgia, where our national symbol thrives thanks to an abundance of the tall pine trees they prefer for nesting as well as plenty of marshes and creeks where eagles can hunt for their favorite food: fish.

As in past years, Chatham County posted the highest number of occupied nests, with 29. At the other end of the coast, Camden County boasted the second highest coastal total with 16. (Decatur County, which competes with Chatham for the number one spot statewide, was not surveyed this year.)

DNR monitors nesting in January and February to determine occupancy and in March and April to see how the eggs and chicks are doing.

Along with the nests that DNR program manager Bob Sargent documented in his final helicopter survey with the department before his retirement in the spring, tips from the public pushed the total up by six nests.

On the coast, 82% of nests fledged at least one eaglet, Sargent told The Current GA via email. The success rate for nests monitored in all survey areas was 85%, which is higher than the long-term average. On average, each nest produced 1.7 eaglets. Along with Coastal Georgia, northeast Georgia was also surveyed.

Factors such as Sargent’s March retirement (some follow-up flights are usually done in April) and bad weather canceling some northeast Georgia nest checks yielded a smaller sample size. However, nearly half of all known eagle nests in the state were monitored, providing a reliable measure of productivity for our national bird, according to Sargent.

Bald eagle populations collapsed around the country in the mid-20th century due to the widespread use of the pesticide DDT, which made eagle eggs too fragile to survive incubation. By 1963, there were just 417 known nesting pairs left in the lower 48 states, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reports. The U.S. banned DDT in 1972 and by 2007, the bald eagle had recovered enough to be removed from the federal endangered species list. Researchers estimate there are now more than 71,000 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states.

Accounting for nests not checked, Sargent said in a press release that the findings suggest Georgia again had over 200 nests, as it has since 2015. The number of nesting eagles also is still increasing in some areas, although that trend has slowed the last 10 years.

“This year’s results reflect a population that is having a strong year acquiring food resources and has clearly bounced back from the serious hit productivity took – especially on the coast – during the initial avian influenza outbreak in 2022.

“Unfortunately, we have evidence that the disease persists in Georgia and elsewhere across the U.S. But our survey shows that these magnificent birds are resilient.”

The Tide brings regular notes and observations on news and events by The Current staff.