© 2024 WSHU
NPR News & Classical Music
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
We received reports that some iPhone users with the latest version of iOS (v17.4) cannot play audio via the Grove Persistent Player.
While we work to fix the issue, we recommend downloading the WSHU app.

Bald Eagles Make Comeback On Long Island

Photo by Jim Colligan, courtesy of The Nature Conservancy

From the pebble and seashell shore, Mike Laspia lowered his binoculars and looked toward a long stand of oaks and maples. He raised them again, and then lowered them again.

“Whoop, there’s one right there,” Laspia said. “There’s an adult. No, that’s one of the immatures. See, it’s all brown.”

Laspia is the director of the Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island. He watched as a bald eagle circled overhead. Its wingspan was as wide as a car.

“Yeah, they’re big.” Laspia said for good measure. “When you see an eagle, you know it’s an eagle. There’s no question about it.”

Nationally, bald eagles have made a remarkable recovery. In 1963, there were less than 500 nesting pairs left. Thanks to habitat protection and federal bans on some pesticides, they were removed from the endangered species list in 2007 with more than 10,000 pairs.

But it was only a few years ago that they started to return to Long Island. Currently, there are five nesting pairs on Long Island. Those pairs had at least six eaglets that just started flying this month. Three of them are on Shelter Island.

“It was like, holy mackerel, this is amazing,” Laspia said. “Only the second or third eagle nest recorded for Long Island. So it was a really, really big deal.”

Credit Charles Lane
Mike Laspia, the director of Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island.

Bald Eagles in the Northeast are migratory birds. They mate for life.

Laspia said the fact that bald eagles are making a comeback is a sign that Long Island’s water quality, at least in some parts, is improving.

The location they chose on Shelter Island, Gibson Beach, is a case in point.

“[There is] very little development along these shorelines, and that’s one of the reasons that bay is so healthy, and very little interference from septic systems or fertilizer run off from yards. It’s really helped to keep this part of the world healthier,” he said.

But standing there on the beach, Laspia said it's only because humans have been kept away from this spot that the bald eagles have returned. Laspia says for the bald eagles to stay on Long Island, they'll need clean water. The bald eagle's diet consists mainly of fish.

"The overall tendency is I think people would like to see the water quality improve. There’s a lot of people who live here and enjoy Long Island and all the marine waters that surround it or are a part of it. I think that’s why they are living here. And I find it hard to believe anyone wouldn’t enjoy seeing cleaner waters, more fish, more shellfish, which are a part of the makeup of our lives.”

Laspia said the new eaglets will stay with their parents until next spring and then they'll fly away. The National Eagle Center says some studies show that juvenile bald eagles wander hundreds of miles away before eventually returning  several years later to the general area where they were born to find a mate and build a nest of their own.

Scientists say its important to stay away from bald eagle nesting areas. According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, disturbance at nest sites may cause the bald eagles to abandon their nest, even if there are eggs or young in the nest.