Georgia’s first statewide survey of bald eagle nests in five years showed the national bird nesting in record numbers, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Survey flights this winter and spring to find and monitor nesting bald eagles counted 229 nest territories. That tops the previous high of 218 set in 2017, survey leader Dr. Bob Sargent said. Except for COVID-related changes last year, the agency changed its surveys after 2017 to check most regions every other year.
This year’s nests fledged 227 eagles, or almost 1.6 per nest, slightly more than the 2017 average. While most nests had one to two eaglets, a bald eagle couple near Columbus raised three young to flight.
Not all of the news was good. As DNR announced in April, the viral disease called highly pathogenic avian influenza – or bird flu – hammered bald eagles on the coast. In the region home to about a third of Georgia’s eagle nests, nest success dropped about 30 percent this year, with fewer than half fledging at least one young.
But Sargent, a program manager with DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section, said the big picture is encouraging.
“It’s important to remember that the bald eagle population has exhibited a remarkable rebound in the last 50 years. And although the coastal nests took a hit from the virus, the more than 150 nests elsewhere in the state experienced normal productivity.”
DNR monitors eagle nesting by helicopter twice a year, splitting the state into five areas for surveys. Flights in January and February mark nests in use. Follow-ups in March and April are mainly to gauge how the nests fared.
Georgia appears to have maintained more than 200 occupied nest territories annually since 2015, according to Sargent. Although findings this year suggest the state’s nesting population of bald eagles continues to increase, the growth rate has slowed substantially compared to 2007-2015 when nest totals surged from 114 to 210.
Minus influenza-affected totals in coastal counties, nest success this year ranged from just below average in southwest Georgia (65 percent) to average in the north/ northwest (77 percent) and significantly above average – 90 percent – in the east/northeast region. Overall, the numbers are in line with previous years. Sargent said local factors, such as unusually heavy rainfall before or early in the nesting season, can affect regional results.
“It’s tempting to look at the 65 percent success rate for southwest Georgia, which is about 10 percent below the norm, and wonder if there was something wrong. But fluctuations of that magnitude are not unusual, and the good news is that we found 21 new nests in that area of the state. That’s especially remarkable when I think back to the more than dozen nest trees toppled in that area by Hurricane Michael in October 2018.”