250 active Bald Eagle nests have been identified and monitored over the past year, and one of the nests is between Cliffwood Beach and Old Bridge Waterfront Parks on the border between Middlesex and Monmouth Counties!
According to the 2022 New Jersey Bald Eagle Project Report, the last nesting season was record-setting for the Bald Eagle population in New Jersey since the eales were considered to have been on the brink of extinction.
The term ‘active nest’ refers to eagle nests with eggs. Out of the 250 nests, 83% of the nests successfully yielded 335 baby eagles! Overall, this is a great sign of the Bald Eagle population revitalization and the pay-off of efforts to help the eagles bounce back.
In the 1970s, a lone Bald Eagle nest in all of New Jersey kicked off the realization of needing to help the birds. Today, New Jersey’s Bald Eagle Project is driven by biologists with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation, the New Jersey Endangered and Nongame Species Program, generous sponsors, and run by about 150 volunteers. Without their efforts, the Bald Eagle population would have dwindled.
These people will stake out known nests in all 21 NJ counties and monitor the birds’ behavior throughout the seasons. While eagles are typically sensitive to human activity in their breeding and foraging areas, the volunteers have become quite skilled at making themselves scarce when the eagles are around.
American Bald eagles take about five years to mature and reproduce. This year, New Jersey’s population spiked, and one brood of eagle babies is living in the South Amboy region of Raritan Bay!
“About 50% of our state’s population can be found in the Delaware Bay region. So those are the counties of Salem and Cumberland and part of Cape May primarily,” she said. “That is a very eagle-dense, eagle-rich area with great habitat that is kind of similar to another great region, which is the Chesapeake Bay.” – Kathy Clark from NJ Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Three Bridges Eagle Cam: http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/education/threebridges/
Duke Farms Eagle Cam: http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/education/eaglecam/
Report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/112v6PI316pQk8_OoFsUhk-cAcdIcDF5y/view
Source: http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/blog/2023/01/21/new-jersey-eagles-soar-to-new-heights-in-2022/
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