Two young offspring leave mom and pop behind in the Princeton area.
By: David Campbell
The eaglets have flown.
Yes, bittersweet, but true. The two young offspring of a nesting pair of American bald eagles in the Princeton area reportedly have flown the nest to make their own way in the greater world.
According to state Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Karen Hershey, the two young eagles, which reportedly hatched in April, have fledged and taken their first flights. They left the area around early July, and this, apparently, is a good thing.
It means the birds grew up healthy while they were here, and that they then did what young eagles are supposed to do when they grow up, and that’s leave the nest. (If only college graduates were as faithful to the ticking of the biological clock.)
Ms. Hershey said that, unlike adults, who can stay by the nest after their offspring have flown, eagle young typically migrate to seek their own feeding grounds. They generally head south toward the Chesapeake Bay. "So you’re not going to see them in the Princeton area," the DEP spokeswoman said.
But buck up, bird watchers.
The adult nesting pair that produced the eaglets empty nesters now reportedly is sticking around.
In New Jersey, the migratory habits of adult bald eagles vary, Ms. Hershey continued. Some stay close to the nesting site in the fall and winter while others branch out. But generally, the adult birds do not migrate out of state, so if they do wander, it’s not too far.
"This is a new pair, so we’re not sure what to expect," the spokeswoman said. "We think you would expect to occasionally sight them near Lake Carnegie, but in winter that freezes. So they will probably go to a larger water body to feed, maybe the Delaware River."
For the past couple of years now, bald eagle sightings in the vicinity of Lake Carnegie and the Kingston lock stirred excitement among many, and prompted hopes that eagles had nested in the region. Last February, the DEP confirmed that an eagle’s nest indeed had been found in the Princeton area. But the state agency was careful not to disclose specifics about the location of the nest in order to protect the site from human interference. Then in April came news that the nesting pair had produced offspring.
Bald eagles are reportedly on the rise again in New Jersey.
The DEP’s Division of Fish & Wildlife has reported that there were 40 eagle’s nests in New Jersey in 2003. Only three of these were located north of Princeton at the Delaware Water Gap, Merrill Creek Reservoir and Round Valley Reservoir.
Eagles in New Jersey have made a comeback since reaching a nadir in 1970, when there was only one nesting pair identified. With the ban on DDT in 1972 and subsequent state restoration efforts, the population increased to 23 active eagle pairs in 2000 and 40 last year.
Nevertheless, the mortality rate among young eagles is 80 percent, according to the state.
The Princeton area, meanwhile, has done its part for the growing eagle community. It has graduated two eaglets into the wider world. In the meantime, residents may still be treated to occasional sightings of one of the adults.
"You still might have a sighting of the parent birds, but the children are gone," Ms. Hershey said. "The adults will stay by the nest. They become residents."