The Lake Today

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) says to the surprise of many people Missouri is one of the nation’s leading states for bald eagles.

Bald eagles can be found in every state except Hawaii, however unlike most people think, the largest concentration of bald eagles in the lower 48 states is not in the Rocky Mountains. In fact, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the states with the largest concentrations of bald eagles are Alaska. Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Florida and Washington.

Although, only around 150 or so nesting pairs live year round in Missouri, literally thousands of the big birds winter here. Because of the abundance of lakes, rivers, cliffs and dense forests Missouri offers prime nesting and wintering ground for the birds. The MDC says more than 2,500 migrating bald eagles spend most of the winter in the state, including a100 or so that winter here near Bagnell Dam.

When our country was first settled, bald eagles flourished throughout North America with an estimated population of 20,000 nesting pair. However, like other wildlife as the nation grew in population the number of bald eagles began to dwindle.

The American bald eagle was adopted as our national emblem in 1782, but it wasn’t until 1978 that the federal government declared the bald eagle an endangered species in 43 states including Missouri. At that time the number of nesting bald eagle pairs was estimated to be no more than 3,000 in the entire lower 48 states.

Since then the bald eagle has recovered dramatically from the low numbers of the 60s and 70s, so much so that in 2007 the federal government declared the birds no longer endangered. However, in Missouri, the MDC still lists bald eagles among its endangered species.

Nesting eagles were common in Missouri during the 1700s and early 1800s, but when early settlers began cutting the cypress trees and draining the swamps the birds began to disappear. The attitude of farmers in those early days also endangered the birds since they were considered predators and a danger to livestock, killing bald eagles was a common practice. So much so, that in 1907 a trapper in New Madrid, Mo., bragged that during his 37 years of hunting he had killed 487 of the big birds.

At that time the main concentration of eagles was in the southeast part of the state, then when the insecticide DDT hit the market in the 1940s and 50s, even those few birds that still remained began to die off. The powerful insecticide not only killed bugs, but also drastically reduced the number of wild bird eggs that hatched each season.

Following the Bald Eagle Act of 1940 and the banning of DDT in the 1960s, the birds began making a slow comeback throughout the Midwest. Then between 1981 and 1990, the MDC worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield to release 74 young eagles with an eye toward turning them into nesting pairs. The young eagles had been obtained from captive breeding facilities or wild populations. Each summer during that period the young eagles were released into national wildlife and state conservation areas in various both the eastern and western regions of the Ozarks.

The young eagles imprinted on the areas and began mating and raising their young in and around the regions where they were released. As the populations grew the birds began to spread out around the state until today more than one-third of Missouri’s 114 counties have reported at least one nesting pair.

Today, sycamore trees are the most common nesting sites for the state’s bald eagle population and a largest portion of the state’s nesting pairs lives in the regions of Lake of the Ozarks, the Truman Reservoir in Benton County and Lake Pomme de Terre in Hickory and Polk counties.

While the MDC was working to bring the bald eagle population back to its earlier numbers, biologists did a count of the number of nests around the state each year. However because the program was so successful, those counts were discontinued in 2006. When the final count was taken MDC biologists documented 123 active nests and estimated that from those nests a total of 150 young eagles had fledged and gone out to mate, breed and establish their own nesting territories.

Throughout the nesting season, Missouri’s bald eagles are a rather solitary bird with only the male, its mate and the youngsters remaining together near the nesting site. However, when the migrating bald eagles arrive for the winter they form loose flocks and tend to congregate in areas with large trees and open water.

The MDC reports that in 2006, 2,031 wintering eagles were counted in the state. Sixty percent of those eagles were adults with the largest numbers found at Table Rock Lake, along the Mississippi River and right here in the Osage River basin around Truman and Bagnell dams.

Most of the migrating eagles arrive in December and stay until the weather begins to warm in late February or early March. Some of the eagles that winter in Missouri may move further south to the Gulf Coast states when the weather is extremely harsh and lakes and rivers freeze over. However, here in the Lake Area, the water below Bagnell and Truman dams does not freeze even during the coldest weeks and the birds stay are able to roost in the trees near the dams and feed on the abundant fish they spot below the dams.

Although the federal government removed bald eagles from its endangered species list, the Eagle Protection Act of 1940 makes it a felony to shoot an eagle or disturb a nest. In fact, it is even illegal to possess an eagle feather. Individuals convicted of a first offense of killing a bald eagle are subject to fines of $5,000 and/or a year in jail. However, with every subsequent offense the fines grow steeper and the jail times longer.

If you find an injured or dead bald eagle you are required by law to immediately notify the nearest law enforcement agency or MDC field office and wait with the bird until help arrives. In the meantime, you are not allowed to touch or in any way disturb the bird even if you are trying to help it.