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February 2011

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From:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 6 Feb 2011 11:10:03 -0500
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        In today's Sports section of the Columbus paper (p. C12) appeared this
note: "A section of the Walking Trail at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area will
be closed until further notice. The closing came about because a pair of
bald eagles is setting up housekeeping at a nearby nest."
        A nest right overhead temporarily closed the bird trail a few years
back, until the eagles decamped (apparently for some reason other than
walkers on the trail) thereafter. Bald eagles are almost certainly more
numerous now in Ohio than they were in the unspoiled habitats of three
hundred years ago. They are no longer rare, and they are officially no
longer officially endangered, either. I believe there were four nests in
largely urban Franklin County last year, where five years ago there were
no nesting records at all. This happy circumstance may have come about
in part because nest sites were protected, but things have changed, and
if this practice were universal protective perimeters would now cover a
lot of real estate. Think how many more acres would be inaccessible if
far rarer and more endangered Ohio nesters were thus protected! How many
acres would closed if a golden-winged warbler nest was found? A solitary
sandpiper's? A merlin's? A golden-crowned kinglet's? A golden eagle's?
        Admittedly, nesting bald eagle pairs vary quite a bit in how tolerant
they are of human activities nearby, but every time I hear about the
closing of large areas to benign visitation in order to avoid disturbing
them--and only them--I recall the photos at
http://www.ohiobirds.org/news.php?News_ID=172  .........this always
gives me a smile, and makes me more hopeful about their recovery.
Bill Whan
Columbus

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