Bald eagle pair a welcome sight for birders

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A pair of adult bald eagles spotted on Lagoon Pond. - Mara Flanagan

Vineyarders say a photo of two adult bald eagles on Lagoon Pond underscores their hopes for more nesting pairs of the iconic bird on the Island, and shows local birders reaping the benefits of decades of conservation efforts.

The photo, taken by Vineyarder Mara Flanagan, shows the birds on a frozen portion of Lagoon Pond, with one of them preying upon an unlucky duck.

Flanagan’s photo doesn’t offer clues as to whether the duo are a nesting pair, local birders say. But avian enthusiasts have told The Times that the photo comes as the birds are more common on-Island in recent years.

Steve Allen has led weekly summer bird tours for Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary for the past 25 years. He told The Times that he saw his first bald eagle on-Island a few years ago, but that he has yet to see two at the same time, never mind two adults.

However, he said, the birds have been seen regularly on-Island this fall and winter. The recent photo could also be a sign of a nesting pair.

“Seeing two adults together is a sign that they may be a nesting pair,” he said. “There’s no way to know for sure. There’s a couple things that birders would look for. Seeing two adult eagles together would be one of them, or seeing one carrying nest material.”

If these eagles are nesting, they wouldn’t be the first to do so on-Island. The first nest was confirmed in 2020. Matt Pelikan, head of the Martha’s Vineyard Atlas of Life, told The Times that a pair has been nesting in an undisclosed location for years now.

Pelikan predicts that bald eagle nests will continue to increase on the Island. “It is likely that the prevalence of the species on the Island, including the number of nesting pairs, will continue to increase as the regional population rebounds. There is probably a fairly low ceiling, though, on how many pairs we’ll eventually have — they tend to be more territorial, and to require larger territories than ospreys, for example, do,” he said.

But despite the increase in nesting pairs, Pelikan and Allen are yet to hear confirmation of a bald eagle chick hatching on Martha’s Vineyard, which was confirmed by Mass Audubon public relations director Aaron Gouveia.

Speaking with The Times in January 2024, the late naturalist Gus Ben David said that local nesting pairs have been thwarted by a more local conservation success story — ospreys, a product of his own efforts to set up the nesting poles that can be seen Island-wide.

Bald eagles often take up residence on the Island’s many nesting poles while ospreys are away in the Southern Hemisphere, Ben David said. But more agile ospreys return in spring to aggressively defend their territory, often driving bald eagles out of their nests, or breaking their eggs.

While bald eagles were removed from the threatened species list in 2007, the eagles on the Vineyard are largely a product of a conservation project undertaken in the 1980s at Quabbin Reservoir in the Boston area, Ben David said. This project involved raising and releasing the eagles, as they tend to return and mate near their place of birth.

While the first native-born bald eagle is yet to be confirmed, it could be only a matter of time.

Pelikan and Allen say that the species’ increasing presence has been a welcome sight. “The resurgence of the species, both on M.V. specifically and in general, is a powerful conservation story always worth telling or updating,” Pelikan told The Times. “It still amazes me that after near-extinction, bald eagles have become routine.”

Allen said that he appreciates the chance to see the birds in action. “It’s just a very cool thing,” he said of the photo. “Everyone loves eagles. They’re amazing to see … there’s nothing else like them.”

2 COMMENTS

  1. If we want to have these iconic birds we need to be aware that rat poison can kill them. Please think about alternatives.

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