FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] article from Washington Post today on Bald Eagles on the Potomac

["Kathy Kreutzer" <k-kreutzer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Kathy Kreutzer, Chesterfield, VA


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November 19, 2004

RITUALS 

Along the Potomac, Bald Eagles Soar Once More

By JOE ROMAN

        

 W <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/w.gif> OODBRIDGE, Va.

SEEING a bald eagle is, like so many things in life, a matter of timing,
chance, persistence and location. There are few better places to try
your luck than at the Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Fairfax
County, Va., just 18 miles south of Washington.

In the 1960's, there were fewer than 500 nesting pairs of bald eagles in
the lower 48 states, and the birds seemed destined to wind up as a
memory, spreading their wings only over flagpoles, weather vanes,
mailboxes and pocket change. But after almost 40 years on the
government's list of threatened species, there are now more than 7,000
pairs of the birds, and the bald eagle - with its snowcapped head,
prominent yellow beak and seven-foot wingspan - has become the ideal
starter bird for bird-watchers. 

This isn't to say that finding one is easy. But if you spend time at
Mason Neck, said Joe Witt, the refuge biologist, "you're going to see
eagles, unless you're really unlucky." And that's even truer in winter,
when more than 100 migrating eagles arrive to wait out the cold months. 

A comfortable overlook at the end of the refuge's Great Marsh Trail
gives you a seat at a natural amphitheater with a 220-acre stage. On a
recent morning, migrating geese honked overhead. Wild rice rustled in
the wind. And an adult eagle rose along the shore, riding the thermals
over the oaks and hickories that crowd the marsh. The eagle's size and
its power stroke may be the first attributes to strike an observer, but
it's the flash of the white tail that thrills. 

Eagles announce their maturity with dramatic plumage. When the eagle
alighted across the marsh, its white head appeared like an apparition in
the trees. I watched it preen its bright tail feathers, Tonka
truck-yellow talons grasping an oak branch. As the eagle kept a wary eye
on me over its shoulder, I tried to hide behind my compact binoculars.
But the bird had my number and lofted over the marsh, swooping out of
sight. A raft of ducks smacked their wings in the wash, quacking in the
eagle's shadow. 

You would never mistake a full-grown eagle for another bird of prey. The
drab juveniles are not such easy marks and could be mistaken for
vultures on the wing. Vultures, however, have a V-shaped, wobbly flight
pattern, lacking the determined stroke of a soaring eagle. Once you've
got a feel for birds, you'd be more likely to mistake a distant plane
for an eagle than you would a vulture. Eagles can also be acrobatic. Two
juveniles briefly locked talons above the marsh, practicing the midair
cartwheels they will later perform during courtship.

Seeing all this in an afternoon, it's hard to believe that Mason Neck
was saved for the sake of a single bird, an eagle that resided on this
boot of land in 1969. The presence of this lone raptor eventually helped
protect more than 2,000 acres of mature hardwood forest and a colony of
great blue herons that now numbers about 1,500 birds. (The rookery is
closed to the general public, though herons can be spotted throughout
the refuge.)

Most striking, the refuge and adjacent state park are now hosts to a
growing number of winter visitors. Many are "floaters," as Mr. Witt
calls eagles that just visit for the season. Last year, there were also
six nesting pairs. According to Mr. Witt, the area has the advantage of
isolation: "There's only one road in and out."

That road, Route 242, takes you past Gunston Elementary ("Home of the
Eagles," naturally) and Gunston Hall, the 18th-century home built by
George Mason, prominent landowner and author of the Virginia Bill of
Rights. Though his sentiments were reflected in the Declaration of
Independence, Mason would not sign the Constitution, protesting its
failure to protect civil liberties and stop the importation of slaves.
It took the nation a few years to come around on civil liberties, adding
the Bill of Rights in 1789, the same year that the bald eagle was
adopted as the country's official bird. It was almost a century before
the United States got around to abolishing slavery.

In light of Mason's influence over our history, there may be no better
place to celebrate the bald eagle's return than at the refuges that
surround his plantation. In October, as the marsh lights up in autumn
reds, eagles descend from Canada and the northern states. During the two
days I spent in the area, I was never skunked: eagles rose over the
Woodmarsh Trail, soared on the currents over Belmont Bay, hunted in the
waters off Occoquan, and made their presence known from every overlook.
Mating season was about to begin.

In the 1960's, environmentalists weren't certain that anyone in the
lower 48 would ever get to see an eagle at all. Rachel Carson warned in
"Silent Spring" that the national symbol seemed to be on the verge of
extinction. Marshes were being filled, and the wetlands that persisted
were barraged with DDT in an effort to beat back salt-marsh mosquitoes.
The pesticides disrupted the eagles' reproduction, thinning eggshells
and killing young birds. 

THE Endangered Species Act played a crucial role in protecting the
eagle, which was added to the list of threatened and endangered species
in 1967. A captive-breeding program was started, and critical habitat
was purchased to secure the bird's breeding areas. Mason Neck was the
first federal wildlife refuge established to protect eagles. Penalties
were imposed for shooting or harming these birds of prey. Most
important, in 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT. The
protection effort has been so effective that more eagles now nest along
Chesapeake Bay than were breeding in all the lower 48 states 40 years
ago.

This year, the nonprofit organization Environmental Defense began a
campaign to celebrate the comeback of the bald eagle. "The eagle is a
bird that many Americans can now see fairly easily," said Michael Bean,
chairman of the organization's wildlife programs. "It's important to
recognize success." Environmental Defense and the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service propose that it is time to delist the eagle. 

Not all those concerned with eagles think that's a good idea. "The
habitat's not getting any better," Mr. Witt said as we walked the
refuge. "The eagle is the national symbol. You have to be cautious about
it." Mason Neck is managed for eagles, and precaution is taken
throughout the refuge. If a breeding pair chooses to nest near a trail,
the area is closed to the public. Part of the Woodmarsh Trail is closed
throughout the winter to give these wary birds some privacy.

The eagles of Chesapeake Bay don't limit themselves to Mason Neck.
They're found just to the north at Mount Vernon, on the Eastern Shore of
Maryland at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and along golf
courses and off parking lots. I took my lunch to the Occoquan Bay
National Wildlife Refuge nearby. Once a top-secret Army research base,
in 1998 Occoquan became part of the Potomac refuge complex, which also
includes Mason Neck. Even before the transfer, grassland birds,
white-tailed deer and bald eagles took advantage of the open fields and
marshes protected by the military. As I ate my sandwich at the gazebo
overlooking Occoquan Bay, four crows screamed by. A bald eagle followed
close, great yellow talons arched. 

Retreating to a nearby stand, the crows folded their wings. The eagle
altered course, flashing its tail like a winning hand of cards, and
soared silently over the bay




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