While Monica and I are fishing or just out cruising with friends on our pontoon boat, it never gets old seeing bald eagles soaring overhead and occasionally swooping down to grab a fish off the top of the water. There were times when eagles have been so close to our boat that we could hear their wings flapping, but years ago, this wasn’t always the case. At one time Eagles were throughout the entire state of Wisconsin, but their numbers started to drop dramatically in the 1800’s due to being shot, disturbance of nesting sites and loss of habitat by logging until laws were passed. Those laws being the 1916 migratory treaty, the bald eagle protection act of 1940 and then listed as endangered in1972. Because of these laws Wisconsin’s eagle population started to rise. In the 1960s, a study found the main reason for the decline in nesting pairs was due to the pesticide DDT and here’s a quick reason why. Pesticide was sprayed for insects, then it made its way into the water, fish ate plankton, fatty tissues of the fish stored small amounts of DDT, then eagles ate the fish.  That DDT ingested by the eagles caused their eggshell to be too thin and the eggs would break. In 1970, Wisconsin placed a ban on the sale of DDT and in June of 1972 the entire country did the same. This ban certainly helped, because in 1973, Wisconsin only had 108 nesting pairs and by 2010 that number grew to 1,150. I believe the last survey was in 2019 and at that time, there was just shy of 1700 nesting pairs in Wisconsin and today there are bald eagles in all 72 counties in Wisconsin.

I highly recommend googling (WISCONSIN EAGLE CAM) and view live footage of eagles in their nest. A while back, I did this and thought I would watch for a few minutes, but it became mesmerizing, and I wound up watching these eagles close to a half hour. Breeding pairs of eagles can remain together for many years and will also return to the same nest each year. Did you know, bald eagles are born white? It’s true, females usually lay one or two eggs at the end of March or the beginning of April and in 5 to 6 weeks the little fluffy white eaglet’s hatch. Then, as the eaglets mature, the little ones will turn dark brown and won’t get their white head or tail feathers until they are 4 or 5 years old. While in the nest, eaglets will continue flapping their wings to build muscles before flight. Then when they are around 12 weeks old, they are physically able to fly but stay around their nesting tree while practicing flight and homing in on their hunting skills. During this time, mom and dad will still bring them food, and this will happen for the next 5 to 6 months. Even though they see their parents swoop down and glide over the water before grabbing a fish, this hunting skill can take up to 2 years to develop.

Here is a little more information on Bald Eagles.
* Females are bigger (34 TO 43 INCHES, 7 1/2 FOOT WINGSPAN).
* Males are (30 to 35 INCHES AND 6 FOOT WINGSPAN).
* Eagles average weight is 10 to 14 pounds,
* Have over 7000 feathers, can reach speeds of 55 mph
* Their average life span of 15 to 25 years, but some in captivity made it to 50 years old.

The Wisconsin DNR started a banding program for mortality rate and wintering habitat that found most adult eagles never leave the state of Wisconsin. The eagles that stay just fly to the southern part of the state along the Mississippi and lower Wisconsin river where they have access to open water. This program also discovered immature eagles will winter as far away as Oklahoma. I believe we all are glad we will continue to see these magnificent birds flying above our boats for many years to come.