The return of the Bald Eagle

Jeff Green | Jul 08, 2010

Bud Andress is a retired Parks Canada warden, and an expert on Bald Eagles. He has devoted himself to fostering and monitoring the return of bald eagles to the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River, and he will be bringing a wealth of information about Bald Eagle behaviour and nesting patterns to the Oso (Soldiers Memorial) Hall in Sharbot Lake on Saturday July 10 from 2-4 pm.

Andress is former co-chair of the St. Lawrence Bald Eagle working group, which is active on both sides of the Canada/US border. It is estimated that there were 400 nesting eagles in the Ottawa Valley/St. Lawrence River region early in the 1900s, and they were commonly seen in Frontenac County but the numbers dropped off due to pollution, habitat loss, and human disturbance, particularly the use of pesticides.

It was in 1937 that the last nesting pair of bald eagles was observed in the Thousand Islands. That is, until 1999. In that year a pair of bald eagles was spotted building a nest on an Osprey nesting platform near the Ivy Lea bridge. Since then about 20 eaglets have been hatched in the Ivy Lea area, and about 75-100 eagles overwinter in the area.

Some of the projects that have been undertaken by the Bald Eagle working group include satellite monitoring of eaglets and building nesting platforms. Bud Andress will talk about the bald eagle’s recovery, the ongoing research that he is conducting, and further steps that can be taken to bring Bald Eagles back to this region.

Bald Eagles are classed as a Species at Risk by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Now that they are starting to come back, many organizations are trying to help them get re-established.

The talk is a presentation of the Frontenac Stewardship Council and the Kennebec Lake Association.