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Bald eagles thriving on Indian Head base
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by SARA K. TAYLOR
Libby Mojica, a research biologist from the College of William and Mary, holds a 30-day-old eaglet taken from a nest earlier this month on the Stump Neck annex of the Naval Support Facility in Indian Head.
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By 2001, the base had racked up a dozen eagle deaths, most the result of electrocution from landing on power lines or from broken necks sustained after flying into the lines.
‘‘The base is a fly through from the Mattawoman Creek to the Potomac River,” said Greg Warner, a spokesman for the support facility.
Consulting with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, officials learned that adding reflective tape and making other changes might divert the birds, but even more could be done to protect the symbol of America’s freedom, a species that is revered around the world.
Earlier this month, researchers from the College of William and Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology visited the Indian Head base and the one at Stump Neck as the first step in a three-year study to document the health of eaglets recently hatched.
Two eaglets were scooped from a nest with the help of climbers from the Bartlett Tree Service (usually the researchers climb to the nest, but the positioning of some of the nests called for expert help).
Bryan Watts, director of the conservation center, and Libby Mojica, a William and Mary research biologist, tagged the young birds, performed blood tests and took biological measurements, all while the eaglets’ protective parents floated and circled high above.
Indian Head has 10 eagle nests, eight of which currently house eagles, while a great horned owl has taken over one of the abandoned nests, according to Seth Berry, the base’s natural resource manager.
With 17 miles of shoreline, the Indian Head area is a ‘‘prime location for eagles and ospreys,” Berry said.
‘‘The habitat here is really good for eagles,” he said. ‘‘With all the land development in Charles County, federal installations are the only places left with the [eagle] habitat.”
And the Chesapeake Bay area is a destination of sorts for eagles. Birds from the north come down and southern birds come up to meet in the region and mix with those that nest here, Mojica said.
‘‘The Chesapeake Bay is a rich ecosystem; it’s a meeting ground,” she said.
The testing of eaglets in Indian Head will determine if dangerous chemicals are being ingested, which could lead to more research, considering the natural cycle of things.
In the 1970s, with the use of DDT and other chemicals, the eagle population plummeted.
‘‘When the population was down it was a concern for us,” Watts said. ‘‘They eat fish, we eat fish. ... When DDT was banned in 1972, the [eagle] population took off.”
Now, the bay boosts 1,000 pairs of bald eagles, up from a low of 60 couples in the 1970s.
And due to the proactive measures taken at Indian Head, there have been no eagle fatalities on the base since 2005, Berry said.
