Return of a Species

Photo by Stan Tekiela

by Stan Tekiela
© NatureSmart

March 26, 2015

3-14-15

I have just returned from leading a bird watching trip along the Mississippi River to see Bald Eagles. Each March, for the past 26 years, many brave souls have joined me on this day long adventure to see our national symbol. When I first started offering this trip, it was a big deal to see one of these birds. I mean, there wasn't a lot of these majestic birds around and if you got to see one, it was worth noting.

The population of Bald Eagles hit their all time low during the 1960's and 70's. These birds along with many other large predatory birds were directly impacted by the use of the insecticide DDT. Thought to be a breakthrough in the fight against the insects that carried malaria and typhus, DDT was used extensively in World War II and in the agricultural practices throughout the United States. The wide spread use lead to the downfall of so many species.

Of course we all know the story about the American Biologist Rachel Carson's, whose book Silent Spring, first published in 1962, pointed out the dangerous impact DDT was having on our wildlife. It took 10 more years to get the chemical banded in the United States. But the chemical lingered in the environment for many more years accumulating in the predators such as Bald Eagles, causing thin egg shells and complete failures of all nesting attempts by these birds.

So the recover for many birds that suffered from over hunting, habitat destruction, and contaminated environment such as Bald Eagles, Osprey, Common Loons, Peregrine Falcon,  Trumpeter Swans, Turkeys and more, didn't really start until the early 1980's. I started leading birding trips in 1988 and have seen the recovery of many of these birds personally.

My first birding trips to see Bald Eagles were rewarded with looks at perhaps a dozen or so birds. In fact if we saw that many eagles we were thrilled. It was very exciting. Now this past weekend's trip we saw nearly 200 eagles, and while it was still exciting to see the excitement was more for the volume of eagles we were seeing not just that we saw them.

I clearly remember the first time seeing a Trumpeter Swan during a birding trip. Prior to this, there were no swans in the wild to see. My group of birders couldn't understand why I was so excited to see this giant white bird. It had been completely killed off in the upper Midwest and now here it was swimming right in front of us.

Peregrine Falcons were also wiped out and now through reintroduction efforts there are more of these falcons then there were ever before. Nearly double the population that originally existed. I can also recall very clearly the first time I saw a flock of Eastern Wild Turkey during a spring birding trip that I was leading. This is another species that was completely killed off and through major reintroduction efforts has come back strong.

Perhaps you remember like I do when there were no Bald Eagles seen flying around? According to the center for Biological Diversity, we were down to 417 nesting pairs of eagles in 1963. Now according to the latest official senses in 2007, there are over 11,000 nesting pairs. This is also the year that every state in the nation reported at least one nesting pair of eagles. Of course since 2007 we have increased the number of eagles substantially and the population continues to recover and grow and in 1995 the Bald Eagle was moved from the Endangered to Threatened species list. Until next time...

Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the US to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and also www.twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.