BALD EAGLE BREEDING PROJECT BEGINNING TO TAKE.Byline: The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times For decades, the country's bald eagle bald eagle Species of sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) that occurs inland along rivers and large lakes. Strikingly handsome, it is the only eagle native solely to North America, and it has been the U.S. national bird since 1782. The adult, about 40 in. population teetered on the edge of extinction. By the mid-1970s, loss of habitat and the widespread use of DDT DDT or 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-1,1,1,-trichloroethane, chlorinated hydrocarbon compound used as an insecticide. First introduced during the 1940s, it killed insects that spread disease and feed on crops. had left only one infertile in·fer·tile adj. Not capable of initiating, sustaining, or supporting reproduction. infertile, adj unable to produce offspring. nesting pair in New York state. But a project started in New York in 1976 to re-establish the bald eagle is showing results, making New York the first state to significantly increase its bald eagle population. This winter 128 bald eagles were counted along the Hudson River Hudson River River, New York, U.S. Originating in the Adirondack Mountains and flowing for about 315 mi (507 km) to New York City, it was named for Henry Hudson, who explored it in 1609. Dutch settlement of the Hudson valley began in 1629. and in the Upper Delaware Watershed regions. Many are wintering from as far away as Canada, but at least 25 nesting pairs are known to have made their homes in the state. The eagle reintroduction in New York relied on a method called "hacking," in which the birds were placed in nests on towers that simulated trees in the wild. The technique, adapted from a system previously used with peregrine falcons, was directed by Peter E. Nye, a research scientist who heads the endangered-species unit of the state's Division of Fish and Wildlife, and was used later in New Jersey. Nye and ornithologist Tom Cade of the Peregrine Fund traveled as far as Alaska, where eagles are plentiful, to procure fledglings. The young birds were brought to New York, where they were raised in caged nests, in four undisclosed locations, on top of hacking towers about 40 feet high. "The hacking towers are designed so that one side is closed," Nye said. "We climb up the back of the towers and provide fresh fish through trapdoors. The eaglets never see people. We want them to be comfortable while they're there and think about nesting in that general area later." The theory is that if fed and monitored, the eagles will survive to set up nesting territories within 100 miles of the areas where they were fledged fledge v. fledged, fledg·ing, fledg·es v.tr. 1. To take care of (a young bird) until it is ready to fly. 2. To cover with or as if with feathers. 3. . |
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