Seeing the nation’s bird used to be a rare sighting, but the once-endangered bald eagle has increased its population here in the Lowcountry.
“Much more prevalent then they used to be in 1976 there were only 13 nesting pairs known in South Carolina and now it probably close to 500 nesting pairs,” said Jim Elliot, the CEO of Avian Conservation Center of Center of Birds of Prey.
People are more likely to see a bald eagle this time of year.
“They come here to breed and they are typically here from early to mid fall all the way through to late spring so they’ll come here and start nesting in December and January and February and then their chicks will fledge and they’ll head back up north for the hot summer months,” said Jennifer Tyrrell, an Engagement Manager of Audubon South Carolina.
This past Thursday, crews removed a possible bald eagle’s nest in Mount Pleasant. Experts said the removal could impact their breeding season.
“She’s in production and eggs are in production and there’s timeline that she has to follow to get those eggs in a suitable nest area so they can hatch successfully, so when a nest is disturbed, it interrupts that cycle, either the birds can adapt and sometimes they cannot,” Elliot said.
Tyrrell who has been monitoring the area since 2017, hopes it wasn’t an active nest.
“That is definitely an osprey built nest, so if the eagles were using that one, which isn’t totally unheard of for them to use an osprey nest in the other season, then it would be an issue, but we haven’t seen or confirmed any nesting in that location,” continued Tyrrell.
Experts advise to not disturb any nests within the area.
“With some limitations, it’s still illegal to disturb them, and disturb them has a broad definition so anything that can be a potential harm to a bird or that might disperse them from a nest, it isn’t allowed soon,” said Elliot.
Most nests in South Carolina are confirmed nesting spots but if you see one and want to report it, click here to fill out the form so Wildlife officials can begin protecting the nest.
Source : ABC News 4
