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Latest Potomac River count turns up most bald eagles ever documented Date published: 7/2/2009
BY FRANK DELANO The economy may have slowed summer tourism, but not for bald eagles on the Potomac. Tidal, fresh-water areas of the river are packed this summer with eagles. Many of them are summer visitors from Florida and other southern states, says Jeff Cooper, a wildlife biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Cooper and his colleagues counted 488 eagles in a two-day survey last month on the river between the U.S. 301 bridge in King George County and Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County. A similar survey found 344 last year.
"This is the greatest number of bald eagles ever documented, summer or winter, within the six known eagle concentration areas in the Chesapeake Bay region," Cooper said. The Rappahannock River from Tappahannock to Port Royal is another concentration area. But last month's count of 135 eagles was "quite low" because of muddy water, Cooper said. "The Rappahannock is a better winter area for eagles with just shy of 400 birds. The Potomac is good in both winter and summer," he said. In addition to the bay region's native population, eagles from southern states migrate to the bay in summer and eagles from northern regions migrate to the bay in winter. Eagles from the Chesapeake migrate north and south. Food is the reason, said Cooper. Cooper said eagles are "opportunistic feeders" that eat most anything--fish, gulls, waterfowl, road kill and other carrion. He uses deer carcasses found on roadsides to bait and trap eagles for banding in winter. This year, he hopes the VDGIF can find funds to buy a few satellite tracking devices for a few local eagles. But the GPS trackers are expensive. Made by North Star Science and Technology LLC in King George County, the two-ounce devices cost about $2,500 each, plus a $175 per month service fee to plot the birds' travels, Cooper said.
While it's not a shared observation, I like to think of the eagle as a major player in a giant eco system that competes with man's quest to be the last species/specimen still standing. When our species wants or claims to need, the eagle is reduced to just another "bird", for want of laying some more asphalt that leads to, through or by the eagles survival and nesting territory.
Or, relocate their population somewhere on high and over the Pacific Divide, aka Rocky Mountain range.
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