The bald eagle is an American success story. After spending decades on the endangered species list, our beloved national symbol recovered from near extinction and now thrives from coast to coast. They also can be found in Canada and northern Mexico.
In Florida, where it is also the state bird, bald eagles live year-round… including in the 2,400-acre nature preserve surrounding OUC’s Stanton Energy Center (SEC). A mating pair has made its home there for many years.
Currently, at least one eaglet has been spotted this season in their nest, which sits in the highest branches of a tall pine tree with commanding views of the surrounding area. It’s possible there could be another fledgling eagle out of sight.
Unless disturbed in some way, bald eagles will return to the same nest to lay eggs each year. Each time, they perform upkeep on the nest – called an “aerie” – and add to it, which means it grows in size. A typical nest, made of sticks and lined with grass and plant material, is four to five feet in diameter and two to four feet deep. That’s plenty deep enough to hide a baby eagle when viewed from the ground. Young eagles take about three months to be ready to take flight.
Chris Harrington, associate scientist with Breedlove, Dennis & Associates, has watched the eagles this nesting season and glimpsed the fuzzy head of one eaglet through his trusty spotting scope.
This is a side benefit for Harrington. His company is contracted by OUC to conduct a twice-yearly census of another resident bird species: the red-cockaded woodpecker. Endangered since 1970 due to habitat loss, the red-cockaded woodpecker makes its own nests in the SEC preserve inside holes carved into the trunks of longleaf pines.
The counts are required by law, along with regular prescribed burns to maintain ideal habitat for the woodpeckers. Although the current count is ongoing, there are an estimated 27 red-cockaded woodpeckers at SEC. The population has more than doubled since 1995.
The preserve is a mix of pine flatwoods, cypress and mixed forested swamps, freshwater marshes and wet prairies. In addition to the bald eagles and red-cockaded woodpeckers, it is also home to gopher tortoises and sandhill cranes, both protected species, as well as deer, bobcats, and more.
Harrington said that with bald eagles maintaining a territory that is two square miles, there is room for only one pair at SEC. The eagles are given a wide berth by humans as well. The preserve is off limits to the public. And guidelines call for minimizing activity in the vicinity of a bald eagle nest except for wildlife monitoring, as Harrington does, or security needs.
OUC records show bald eagles at the site going back to 2000.
