Nestwatchers Save a Species

Devoted Nestwatchers Nurture a Comeback BIRD'S EYE VIEW

The Arizona Game and Fish Department's Bald Eagle Nestwatch Program hires two-person teams to protect eagle nests around rivers and lakes in the central part of the state. Here, nestwatchers Scott Olmstead and Erin Brandt scan a protected wildlife area along the Verde River, near Clarkdale, where bald eagles breed and nest from winter to spring.

A bulldozer rumbles toward a snag topped by squawking bald eagle fledglings as their frantic parents wheel overhead. Floodwaters rise inexorably toward a mas-sive, untidy mound of sticks where a gangly pair of bald eagle chicks perches. An endangered eagle chick struggles in his cliffside nest, dangerously entangled in a coil of fishing line brought back inadvertently with the fish carcass his mother snatched from the surface of a desert lake.

In these emergencies, who you gonna call? Nestwatchers.

Beset by the eggshell thinning effects of the pesticide DDT, dams, diversion, loss of habitat and human disturbance near their streamside nesting sites, Arizona's population of bald eagles had dwindled to a dozen hard-pressed pairs when a heartening coalition of state, federal and private agencies took action.

On the national front, the federal government banned DDT.

On the Arizona front, the Forest Service spearheaded the Arizona Bald Eagle Nestwatch Program, a volunteeroriented field study and protection program aimed at rescuing the majestic national symbol from what once seemed sure extinction. By guarding the most vulnerable eagle nests in the state through the spring season, the effort has contributed to a fourfold increase in nesting pairs of eagles. Collectively, federal and state preservation efforts have saved at least 8 percent of the eagle chicks born in Arizona in the past 30 years. As a result, the unique desert-dwelling population of Arizona nesting eagles has flapped backwards from the precipice of extinction.

Clearly, Arizona bald eagles have needed the help, since their nests lie alongside the same rivers and streams human beings seek so eagerly in the spring. People often accidentally spook eagles from nests, leaving the young unprotected from the hot sun. The nest disturbance, coupled with the naturally high mortality rate for young eagles, meant that the dozen nesting pairs in the state couldn't sustain the eagle population.

The nestwatch program, which now safeguards a dozen breeding areas annually with contributions from 18 different government, tribal and conservation entities, was created by the Forest Service using a small group of weekend volunteers from the Maricopa Audubon Society in 1978.

The program was adopted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1984 and then passed to the Arizona Game and Fish Department in 1991.

Now, Arizona Game and Fish hires about 20 nestwatchers to work in two-person paid teams for four months each spring. Beginning in February, they camp near the nests in 10-day stints, watching the eagles from sunup until sunset, shooing away hikers, campers and boaters and recording eagle behavior. Each year, they ward off thousands of disturbances by people who usually have no idea the eagles are nearby.

Many nests often require a more drastic intervention. If eaglets show signs of disease or injury, biologists can climb trees or rappel down cliffs to remove the babies and take them to a veterinarian for rehabilitation. Biologists also return nestlings that fall from their nests, or treat them for their injuries. When floods in the 1980s and 1990s threatened to inundate reservoirs, nestwatchers called for the removal of eaglets from endangered nests so biologists could place them in safer ones.

Sometimes, program participants report missing or dead eagle parents so biologists can rescue the orphaned eaglets. At one breeding area, the nest-watchers stopped a bulldozer from knocking down a tree occupied by nesting young.

The program has saved at least 44 eaglets since 1983. "This represents about 8 percent of the number of eagles that have fledged from Arizona nests during this time period. That's a significant contribution to the reproduction of eagles," said James Driscoll, bald eagle management coordinator with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. "We now have 47 nesting pairs of bald eagles in Arizona, and the population is no longer in danger of extinction."

The effort provides heartening evidence that endangered species can make a comeback-with a little help from their friends. AlRichard L. Glinski retired from the Arizona Game and Fish Department, where his duties included leading the Southwest Bald Eagle Recovery Team in the 1980s. He now manages the Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant for Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department.

Tom Vezo also photographed the eagle myths and birding stories in this issue.

Where to see eagles

Verde Canyon Railroad Clarkdale (800) 320-0718 www.verdecanyonrr.com.

Jaques Marsh or Woodland Lake Park Pinetop-Lakeside (520) 368-6700 www.wmonline.com/gamefish/ jacques.htm; www.wmonline. com/attract/woodland.htm.

Mormon Lake south of Flagstaff (928) 774-1147 www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/ recreation/mormon_ lake/index.shtml.

Luna Lake Wildlife Area White Mountains (928) 339-4384 www.azgfd.gov/outdoor_ recreation/wildlife_area_ luna lake.shtml.

Along the Salt River Horseshoe Bend to Redmond Flat and below Stewart Mountain Dam (928) 402-6200; (480) 610-3300 www.fs.fed.us/r3/tonto.

Tonto Creek (928) 467-3200 www.fs.fed.us/r3/tonto.

Lake Pleasant Regional Park Morristown (928) 501-1710 www.maricopa.gov/ parks/lake_pleasant.