Category: Eagles

By Barbara McKee, Eagle Project Volunteer

I recently headed home from eagle nest checks near the Delaware River.  As usual, I was on the lookout for interesting raptor sightings, especially eagles.

I spotted a beautiful sub adult eagle perched along the South Branch River.  I pulled over, took out my camera, and got some great photos of this gorgeous bird.  I guessed it might be 4 years old because of the amount of white on its head.  Could this be one of the eagles from the local nests?  We have long suspected that fledglings return to their natal area. We had proof of this while tracking “Duke”, the 2019 banded eagle from Duke Farms, who had a solar tracker backpack attached. He returned frequently to his natal area. While I watched this eagle, it took off and even more exciting, I spotted a green NJ band on its right tarsus!!  Unfortunately, when I downloaded the photos, I could not make out the number of this NJ banded eagle.

I sent photos and a description of its location to all the knowledgeable and experienced Eagle Project volunteers in my area of Central NJ.  I also notified a couple of local (and always very helpful and supportive) interested supporters in the area who are “unofficially” part of the Eagle Project.  I am so thankful that everyone in our group works together for the benefit and protection of our eagles!  There is no possessiveness, jealousy, or one-upmanship, just help, support, and encouragement!

I had confidence that with this group, someone was sure to spot something!!  Imagine my absolute surprise and delight when Steve, a talented and devoted local eagle watcher emailed the group that he had found “my” sub adult and gotten a clear image of her green band:  H22!!  She is one of “mine” which I held at banding in 2022. I was overcome with emotion and excitement!  I would never have known that H22 was alive and thriving if not for Steve’s search and photos. Right on cue, Mary Ellen, another Eagle Project volunteer produced emails and photos that I had sent to the group after the 2022 banding showing H/22 as a 6-week-old nestling.  How heartwarming it was seeing her again as a nestling!

What a joy it is knowing that she is still living and healthy.  I still can’t believe that an eaglet that I held is the same one I saw as a thriving three-year-old. Hopefully she will stick around our area, avoid dangers, find a mate, build a nest, and raise her own eaglets in about 2 years’ time!

 

I monitor a bald eagle nest located in Wawayanda State Park, Sussex County. My heart sank when I was asked to retrieve the carcass of a bald eagle found dead on nearby Highland Lake. The Wawayanda eagles protect a large and rugged territory that includes many smaller ponds, several swamps and other wetlands, and seven lakes, including those in my community. I feared that the dead eagle was one of the Wawayanda pair. Despite their territory’s size, our local eagles are in some ways easy to follow. When the lakes are frozen, as they are this winter, we see few visiting eagles traveling through. Although eagles appear similar, each eagle is really an individual in look and behavior. After watching them closely for years, I’ve learned a lot about the eagles; characteristics, their habits, and their favorite places to perch. Moreover, the male is banded and wears distinctive green and silver ankle bands, which stand out even from a distance, especially with a pair of binoculars.

Bald eagles banded in New Jersey receive two separate bands – a silver band from the federal US Fish and Wildlife Service with a unique six-digit ID number and a state green band with a two-digit code etched in silver. Because of its color and the shorter code, the state band can be read from a distance. The male’s bands tell us quite a lot about his history and this nest. He first arrived in 2016. By identifying his green NJ band as D10, I was able to learn that he was banded as a nestling at another Sussex County nest in 2010. Although I didn’t see any battles, it was clear that he and the young (fourth year) female he arrived with were the new pair in town, replacing the eagle pair that we had been seeing for at least five years prior. I didn’t know where their nest was and spent a lot of time looking for it, but I still saw them frequently throughout their territory. I eventually learned their nest is in Wawayanda.

The female was not banded and therefore harder to track. I don’t know for sure, but I believe the original female from 2016 may have been replaced in 2020. That year, the Wawayanda nest failed– did not fledge any chicks – and a pair of eagles were seen building a new nest near the old one. That failure, the new nest, and their behavior during the 2021 nesting season are why I think a new female took over that year. I was able to see and confirm the male’s bands, so I knew he remained. But the eagles did something I hadn’t really seen in all my years of monitoring – when either eagle was flying into the nest, they would call out, almost as if they were saying, “Hey, it’s me, not a stranger.” They did that throughout the 2021 nesting season, but not in any subsequent season. It was as if they were learning about each other that year and once they really knew each other, never had to do it again.

This pair has been special to watch. To survive in a territory as large and challenging as landlocked northwestern New Jersey, the eagles must be especially resourceful because their nest-building, egg laying, and even early hatching season takes place when their primary food source (fish) may not be available. And they must be strong enough to repel intruding eagles across many miles to protect their dispersed food sources. When they had chicks in the nest, the male’s primary job was maintaining the security of their territory and providing food, while the female needed to ensure survival of their young. When the male was too involved with security matters, as happened in both 2023 and 2024, the female was hunting, feeding the chicks, and protecting the nest area on her own because the male was in another part of their territory for long stretches.
Between 2021 and 2024, this pair fledged eight eaglets. Watching them accomplish this with fine-tuned teamwork and a secure bond has been a real privilege.

When I retrieved the dead eagle and saw it was  not banded, I thought first of the fierce Wawayanda female. With the eagle found near her favorite perching spot and few visitors in the area, it seemed likely to be her. In the two weeks after the eagle was found, two weeks that are the heart of the Wawayanda eagles; mating, nesting and egg laying season, the male waited for her by the nest. I watched him for hours, hoping I was wrong, that she would return, and the season would go on as normal. But that didn’t happen and after all of this, I’m as sure as I can be that it was indeed her. Preliminary tests are positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI, or bird flu), which is hitting birds in our state heavily this year.

She was strong and beautiful, and I’ll miss her quite a lot. I’m sure the male spent those few weeks also missing his bonded mate. But the eagles must focus on the future and by his nature he knows he needs a new mate. As he searches for his next partner, there is no guarantee that he will even remain at Wawayanda. He may choose to move on or he may lose control to other eagles who are looking for a nesting area. I do know that there are a lot of prime nesting spaces open in our area and I hope that whoever “loses” at Wawayanda moves down the road and settles in at a nearby spot.

What happened since the female’s body was found demonstrates both the fragility and the resiliency of bald eagles in New Jersey. I have great hope that the Wawayanda nest will continue successfully and look forward to the next chapter.

Two adorable fluffy chicks have hatched live on the Duke Farms Eagle Cam. There is a pip in the third egg, so the third chick should hatch very soon. Thanks to Duke Farms and staff who host, fund and maintain this cam. The cam is new for the 2025 season and now has audio which allows you to hear the chicks peeping and adults calling. The clarity of the new cam is top notch.

Continue reading “Two chicks hatch live on the Duke Farms Eagle Cam”

The New Jersey Annual Bald Eagle Project report has been published by NJDEP Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program and The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ.  The NJ bald eagle nesting population continues to increase.  Two hundred ninety-three nest sites were monitored, of which, a record 264 were documented to be active (with eggs) and 29 were territorial or “housekeeping” pairs. In total, there were 288 fledglings resulting in a productivity rate of 1.2 young per active nest.

Continue reading “2024 New Jersey Bald Eagle Project Report”

 

It’s a good time of year to see bald eagles in New Jersey.  Many of New Jersey’s resident pairs are back at their nests, getting them ready for the 2025 nesting season.  Though the majority of pairs won’t start incubating until February, there are always a few “early bird” pairs that start laying eggs in January.

In addition to the nesting pairs there are immature eagles (those that aren’t yet five years of age and sexually mature) and wintering eagles that come to New Jersey from areas where it’s much colder and the water has frozen.  A good spot to find eagles is around water supplies that aren’t frozen solid such as rivers and the Delaware Bay. Here are some photos taken by NJ Eagle Project volunteers in November and December of 2024.

There are two upcoming events where you can learn more from us about our efforts to monitor and conserve bald eagles in New Jersey, the NJ Meadowlands Eagle Festival (January 12) and the Cumberland County Winter Eagle Festival (February 1). Click on the links to learn more about these events.

 

by: Larissa Smith, Senior Biologist

We can never thank the NJ Eagle Project volunteers enough for all they do to monitor and protect eagles in New Jersey. Conserve Wildlife Foundation hosted a get-together at the Assunpink Conservation Center this August as a way to say, “thank you”. There are 162 eagle project volunteers currently monitoring eagle nests statewide and it’s not always easy to get everyone together at one time due to distance and obligations. The volunteers who were able to attend shared stories with other volunteers about the nesting season, received an update on the proposed eagle delisting from ENSP Chief, Kathy Clark and hopefully felt very appreciated. This is down time for the eagle project volunteers, though some eagles are already back and working on their nests. THANK YOU to all the Eagle Project Volunteers.

 The Bald Eagle project would not be possible without our corporate partners. We would like to thank PSE&G, Wakefern/ShopRite Stores, Wells Fargo Advisors, and the Cape May County Zoo (AAZK) for providing crucial financial and outreach resources to help keep bald eagles soaring above New Jersey.  

by Rich Nicol, Eagle Project Volunteer

As any NJ Eagle Project nest monitor will tell you, we go through many emotions during the nesting season. The first time of the season that you spot the eagle pair on the nest is exhilarating because you know at least they are back. Then comes the “will they or won’t they nest stage”, where every time you go to the nest your heart drops if you don’t see the eagles. The feeling you get when they are sitting low in the nest and you know they have laid eggs is like your fist pumping the sky. However, there are times that seriously try you. There is nothing like the gut punch of seeing a nest tree that fell over after a storm or an abandoned nest sitting empty. We have to be even-keeled, but emotions boil over sometimes and the loss of a nest can really make you rethink why you are a nest monitor at all. The eagles you watch become family, and you feel great joy when the nestlings turn into fledglings and take to the skies, although you had no part in it, you feel pride nonetheless in their success. This brings us to this story of a rather precocious male nestling who defied all the odds.

Continue reading “A Juvenile Eagle Fledges With a Little Help”

Larissa Smith: Senior Biologist

The 2024 NJ Bald eagle nesting season is winding down and so far 221 young eagles have fledged from nests throughout the state. We know that these eagles have fledged due to the eagle project volunteers who monitor all known eagle nests in New Jersey. Being a nest monitor can be a joyful experience when all goes well and the pairs successfully fledge young. But, it can also be heartbreaking when a pair fails to hatch eggs and when adults or chicks are lost during the season. Despite the ups and downs of monitoring eagle nests the volunteers continue to be dedicated to the eagle project. I asked the Eagle Project volunteers to send me their two favorite photos from the season.

Please enjoy the slideshow.

All photos were taken by trained volunteers from a safe distance using high powered scopes and cameras.

• NJ Bald Eagle Project
• Donate to the Bald Eagle Project

by: Larissa Smith, Senior Biologist

During the 2020 NJ Bald Eagle nesting season the Camden B pair hatched and raised two chicks. This nest was located along the Cooper River, in Camden County on a small parcel of undeveloped land in a very urban area.

On June 5, we received notification that the nest had fallen from the tree during a storm, at that time the two chicks were approximately nine weeks old. They were too young to fly since eagle don’t fledge until at least 11 weeks of age. At nine weeks of age they are the size of an adult eagle so they would be noticeable on the ground. Despite an extensive search by staff and volunteers there were no signs of the two nestlings.

Local wildlife rehab centers were notified in case the young eagles were found and brought in for care. At that point we could only speculate on their fate. Then on June 28, NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife Law Enforcement was alerted to eagles being held in a dog pen at a residence in Camden. NJDFW Conservation Officers visited the home and found the two missing eagle chicks. At this point the young eagles were twelve weeks old and should have fledged if they were still in the nest.

The eagles had been kept in the basement and fed hotdogs and chicken. Fortunately for the chicks they were moved outside and an alert citizen reported the captive eagles. They were taken to Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research for evaluation and treatment. After a week in rehab it was determined that they were healthy enough to be released. By this time the adults were no longer actively in the area of the nest tree. After eagle chicks fledge they still spend a few weeks in the nest area with the adults, learning to survive on their own. It was decided to release the two eagles in a remote area of Cumberland County. On July 9 the two Camden eagles were released at the site.

Staff and volunteers temporarily provided supplemental food (fish and road-killed mammals). The release area has a large population of juvenile and sub-adult eagles who could provide the social learning the young eagles needed. A trail camera was set up at the food drop. E/97 wasn’t seen again at the release site. Her sibling, E/96 was seen in the area several times after her release.

On March 18th, 2024, Kathy Clark with NJENSP received an email from Jerry amEnde regarding a green banded eagle he photographed at Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware.

The banded eagle was E/97! We are thrilled to know that despite her not having a “traditional” start to her life, she has to survived to become a gorgeous four year old eagle.

• Duke Farm Eagle Cam
• NJ Bald Eagle Project
• Donate to CWF

by: Larissa Smith, Senior Biologist

One of my favorite things about working with the NJ Eagle Project is when we receive resighting’s of New Jersey banded eagles. Especially when that eagle is in a pair and nesting. One eagle that we’ve been following over the years, is fondly named “Jersey Girl” due to her NJ origins. She was reported to us in 2014 by Linda Oughton, who has been keeping track of her and her mate since 2010.

Jersey Girl and her mate nest in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. She was one of three chicks banded May 10th 2004 at the Hopewell West, nest which is located in Cumberland County along the Cohansey River. She was banded with green band B-64. That means that this May “Jersey Girl” will be twenty years old!

Since 2010 the pair has successfully raised and fledged a total of 20 young eagles. The pair is not yet incubating this season and Linda reports that they usually start on Valentine’s Day. The pair is well loved by neighbors and people who walk along the Perkiomen Creek, where the pair often fishes.

It’s so wonderful to know that an eagle I helped band almost 20 years ago has survived and raised 20 chicks of her own.

• learn more about the NJ Bald Eagle Project
• 2023 NJ Bald Eagle Report

Thank you to Linda Oughton for keeping us updated on Jersey Girl