This bald eagle was fishing along Overpeck Creek last month.
My latest "Bird Watcher" column in The Record celebrates the Bald Eagle, and includes information on two upcoming free local events. You can read it here. (With a great photo by Darlene M. De Santis.
By Jim Wright
Special to The Record
What better way to celebrate 2023 than to celebrate the bald eagle – our nation’s symbol and an icon of our region’s environmental resilience?
Four decades ago, New Jersey was down to its last eagle nest, and the unbridled use of the pesticide DDT had made the eggs so thin that the parents could not incubate them.
Fast forward to 2022.
“It was a great year for New Jersey eagles,” says Larissa Smith, a biologist with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation, “We monitored a total of 267 nests, including 250 that were active. There were 29 new pairs discovered.”
To top it off, Smith reports that a record-setting 335 young eagles fledged this year. For a species on death’s door in the Garden State, that’s as good as it gets.
To mark the eagles’ resurgence, Bergen County Audubon Society is hosting two free events this month: Save The Eagles Day this Sunday from 1 to 2 p.m. and an eagle festival in Carlstadt on Sunday, Jan. 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Our region typically gets an influx of eagles in the colder months when bodies of water to the north freeze over and these huge raptors hunt and fish along the Hackensack River.
The first event is at the end of Bell Drive in Ridgefield, across Overpeck Creek from an eagle’s nest that has thrived for more than a decade. The low-keyed event is outside, so dress warmly and bring your binoculars.
The following Sunday, BCAS is holding an eagle festival at River Barge Park, on Outwater Lane in Carlstadt. The event will be both indoors and outside,
with informational tables and indoor displays from conservation organizations – as well as birding telescopes to view eagles and other wildlife by the river. Although some events will be indoors, the building is not heated, so dress warmly.
Every child up to 12 years old who brings eagle artwork to the fest will get a prize while supplies last.
For more info, contact BCAS president Don Torino at [email protected] or 201-230-4983.
If you can’t attend either event, fret not. You can enjoy the next best thing, watching a pair of bald eagles on Duke Farms’ bald eagle cam. (Just go to https://www.dukefarms.org/making-an-impact/eagle-cam/) You’ll also see a link to the free eagle ebook I created for Duke Farms in 2016.
The eagles won’t begin nesting until later this month, but (knock on wood) you’ll have an excellent chance of seeing one adult or both bringing in branches and other nesting material.
The cam has been operating since 2008, and has had more than 10 million views over the years. During that time, the nesting eagles have successfully raised 22 fledglings and educated tens of thousands of viewers worldwide.
The Bird Watcher column appears every other Thursday. Email Jim at [email protected].