This is in response to the interesting reports of Bald Eagle gatherings @ Conneaut Harbor close to the eastern end of Lake Erie. Blakeman is an authority on Ohio raptors [esp Cooper’s, Sharpies, Harriers and Kestrels + Red Tails] per Dean Sheldon in Greenwich [Huron County].

 

From: John Blakeman [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Monday, August 7, 2017 11:24 AM
To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] The Bald Eagles Of Conneaut Harbor

 

These Bald Eagle aggregations will become ever more common in Ohio. Presently, there are far more than 300 BE nests, with 600 haggards (adults) tending them. There are an equivalent or much larger (likely the latter) number of "floaters," un-mated young adults. Then, beyond that, are the one and two year old black-feathered immatures, too young to mate.

 

The Bald Eagle, after the breeding season (Feb through Jun) is semi-social, often aggregating in large groups. Yes, the eagle aggregations of Alaska are well-known. But they are not a factor of geography; rather, innate Bald Eagle sociology. 

 

I will expect similar eagle aggregations to occur in the central and western Lake Erie shorelines, and particularly at the eastern edges of Sandusky Bay. 

 

Everyone should note that there are, now, three major reasons the Bald Eagle is proliferating to such a degree. First, virtually none are shot, shot at, or trapped. That wasn't the case for much of the last century.

 

Secondly, DDT and its metabolites are simply no longer in Bald Eagle foods. Egg laying and incubation are now unhindered by chemical hormone disruptors. 

 

But now, unlike at any time in the past (modern or ancient), the Bald Eagle is proliferating because of the automobile---which so conveniently (for the Bald Eagle, at least)---injures and slays large numbers of mammals, primarily white-tailed deer. Bald Eagles are now nesting prolifically inland, away from fish-laden bodies of water; much in the manner of Red-tailed Hawks (for which the eagles now common expropriate nests). Instead of subsisting on the textbook diet of fish (the eagles are fish eagles), a large number, perhaps now a majority of Ohio Bald Eagles, surely those inland populations, are thriving on mammalian prey; mostly recently deceased deer and other large animals the eagles so easily spot from above (at distances away from road berms; most car-hit deer stagger a good distance off the road before dying). 

 

We raptor biologists continue to ponder the time and conditions when Ohio becomes saturated with Bald Eagles. No indication of suppression of population increase at hand. Will Bald Eagles eventually become as common as Turkey Vultures? 



John A. Blakeman 

4312 Woodridge Dr

Sandusky Oh 44870

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Dean Sheldon <[log in to unmask]>
To: gkoney <[log in to unmask]>; 'John Blakeman' <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, Aug 7, 2017 10:58 am
Subject: FW: [Ohio-birds] The Bald Eagles Of Conneaut Harbor



-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ] On Behalf Of
robert lane
Sent: Monday, August 7, 2017 9:49 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [Ohio-birds] The Bald Eagles Of Conneaut Harbor

Conneaut Harbor is located in Ashtabula County, in extreme northeastern
Ohio, on the south shore of Lake Erie, less than two miles from the
Pennsylvania border. The amazing gathering of eagles continued this morning.
We did an eagle count this morning, Monday, from about 7:45AM to about
8:30AM, totaling actual count of 81. Scoping from "The Sandspit" there were
31 on the east breakwall, 12 on the lighthouse (north) breakwall, 22 on the
aggregate piles, and 16 at The Conneaut Creek ship channel and conveyor
area, east of the Canadian National offices on Ford Avenue, also referred to
as The Pittsburgh And Conneaut Dock Company. This is Ohio not Alaska!!! Also
present is a single American Avocet and at least four Least Bitterns, just
to name a few of the birds. Of the Bald Eagles there were 23 adults and 58
juveniles.


Bob and Denise Lane / Mahoning County

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