NORTH DAKOTA OUTDOORS MAGAZINE

Soaring Out of Obscurity

Ron Wilson

When a McLean County landowner discovered an occupied bald eagle nest along the Missouri River nearly four decades ago, it was news.

Before that day, it had been 12 years since a pair of adult eagles successfully nested and fledged an eaglet in the state.

“The nest was first discovered in mid-June … the historic event was later documented by a Fish and Wildlife Service biologist and Army Corps of Engineers personnel while surveying the Missouri River between Garrison Dam and Bismarck for the federally endangered least tern and threatened piping plover,” according to an article in North Dakota OUTDOORS in November 1988. “Two adult bald eagles, and one fully feathered eaglet were observed perching amidst towering cottonwoods along the riverbank.”

Once a common sight, bald eagles were severely affected in the mid-20th century by a variety of factors, among them the thinning of eggshells attributed to use of the pesticide DDT. The bald eagle was placed on the endangered species list in 1978 and remained there for nearly three decades.

While at the time, discovering a successful eagle nest along the Missouri River didn’t signal the recovery of our nation’s symbol in North Dakota, it was a hopeful and newsworthy start.

“Historically, bald eagles did nest along the Missouri River, Red River and likely the Devils Lake area and the Turtle Mountains,” said Sandra Johnson, North Dakota Game and Fish Department conservation biologist. “When bald eagle populations really declined throughout the 1900s, we didn’t know of many active nests. In the 1970s and 1980s, there were probably fewer than three nests in North Dakota.”

But by the 1990s, they started increasing. By 2010, Johnson said, North Dakota had almost 100 active nests, and by 2020, that number jumped to about 300.

Today, Johnson said there are active nests in 47 of North Dakota’s 53 counties. Yet, there is some speculation the six counties (Williams, Wells, Burke, Billings, Slope and Golden Valley) that didn’t make the list likely harbor active bald eagle nests, but they simply haven’t been reported.

“As Department wildlife biologists, we’re not actively surveying every county,” Johnson said. “We rely heavily on reports from the public and our conservation partners on where nests are at. While I’d guess there has to be an active bald eagle nest in almost every county, but without confirmation, that number stands at 47 today.”

When you envision a bald eagle nest, it’s easy to imagine it, say, along the Missouri River in a gigantic cottonwood that’s seemingly been around forever. Yet, as time has shown, bald eagles have ventured out from our major river corridors into some unlikely places.

“They’ve proven to be quite adaptable, and they will nest in trees out in the middle of pastures, fields, really anywhere they’ve got a food source nearby and it doesn’t necessarily have to be by water, either,” Johnson said. “Nationally, there are some bald eagle nests that are more than 9 miles away from any type of water source. Because bald eagles are one of the top predators, if there is a large tree and a food source, it could potentially be bald eagle nesting habitat.”

Bald eagle nests are often unmistakable because of their size.

This bald eagle chick is close to fledging.

“The first year they build a nest, it might be kind of small, but every year they keep adding to it,” Johnson said. “There are some nests now in North Dakota that we’ve been tracking for more than 15 years that are just huge, up to 9 feet wide.”

Wildlife biologists say monogamous nesting pairs initiate courtship and nest-building activities in January and February. Eggs are deposited in nests in late February to mid-March and incubated by both parents for 30-35 days until hatching.

The downy young grow rapidly and achieve fledging stage in about 10 weeks. Fledged eagles typically remain in the area of the nest throughout the first summer.

For bald eagles to rebound to where they are today, it took some time because it takes years before adults are ready to breed. And when they do, the female of the committed pair will lay just two to three eggs.

“Bald eagles are a really long-lived species … they’ll live up to 30 years, but they don’t start breeding until at least 5 years, 6 years, probably older,” Johnson said. “Because it’s a species that takes quite a long time to mature, it just took a long time for the population to really start increasing. And now that it’s increasing, the bald eagle population is growing exponentially.”

Bald eagles seen nesting widely across North Dakota’s landscape or spied feeding in bunches on winterkill carp during the spring migration isn’t as newsworthy as it once was. No matter, because these big, beautiful, unmistakable raptors still stop passersby in their tracks no matter how pedestrian they’ve become.

“I don’t know how many bald eagles or active bald eagle nests I’ve seen over the years, but what I do know is that it never gets old seeing them because they are our nation’s symbol and are such cool birds,” Johnson said.

Report Nests Online

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is asking for help locating active bald eagle nests.

Sandra Johnson, Department conservation biologist, said the Department is looking for locations of nests with eagles present, not individual eagle sightings.

Eagles lay eggs in late February to mid-March, which hatch about a month later. Johnson said it’s easy to distinguish an eagle nest because of its enormous size.

Nearly 350 active bald eagle nests can be found in 47 of the 53 counties in the state. Historically, Johnson said nests were found along river corridors, but that’s not the case today, as bald eagles will nest in trees in the middle of pastures, fields or anywhere near a food source.

Nest observations should be reported online. Observers are asked not to disturb the nest, and to stay a safe distance away. Johnson said foot traffic may disturb the bird, likely causing the eagle to leave her eggs or young unattended.

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