ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608190061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: STAFFORD (AP)
SOURCE: JIM TOLER THE FREE LANCE-STAR
NOTE: Below
DESPITE HUMAN PRESENCE, bald eagles have multiplied in Stafford and other areas.
It's not the pristine, isolated place bald eagles would typically call home. A rutted logging trail used by off-road vehicles runs near the tall poplar tree where a pair of the regal birds made a nest. Spent gun shells litter the ground a few hundred yards away on timberland.
Noise washes over their haven from a Stafford County highway teeming with traffic and construction.
Yet, for four years, the two eagles have raised their young in this inhospitable spot, an area seemingly unworthy of the nation's symbol.
The nearby Rappahannock River provides the essentials for these birds that once faced extinction: food, water and room to spread their wings.
Imposing fliers with striking white heads and tail feathers, these eagles seek the same thing thousands of newcomers look for in the Fredericksburg area - a place to safely raise a family.
State wildlife officials say these birds have moved from well-established eagle habitats at Caledon Natural Area and Mason Neck Wildlife Refuge on the Potomac River and along the lower Rappahannock.
For those with an eye for the extraordinary, eagles can be seen along the river and even over downtown Fredericksburg.
As their numbers have grown, the birds have become less selective about nesting sites, said Mitchell A. Byrd, a College of William and Mary ornithologist. He's the foremost authority on bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay region.
In 1977, there were 33 nests in Virginia. Now there are almost 200, according to preliminary numbers from this year's bald eagle survey.
``They're popping up in weird places,'' Byrd said.
In addition to the unusual Stafford site, he said, eagles have built nests on reservoirs in fast-growing Chesterfield County and industrial areas along the James River.
The eagles in Stafford were observed with the help of local naturalist Ken Mills. Mills said the Stafford eagles have become accustomed to people, off-road vehicles, sounds of traffic and even nearby target practice.
``All the shooting here doesn't scare them off,'' he said.
``They're just purely determined to make a nest. They're darned well determined they're going to raise their babies and that's it.''
Bald eagles have wingspans of 6 to 71/2 feet, but weigh only 7 to 10 pounds. The fierce-looking birds with piercing yellow eyes take on a different nature while nesting.
``It's tender,'' said Mills, who has observed the birds since 1993. ``It's wild, but they're just like a couple.''
Eagles mate for life. In Virginia, the pairs return to their nests from feeding areas on the Potomac and lower Rappahannock from November to January, Byrd said.
The birds rebuild their nests each winter by adding branches to the outside and lining the inside with fresh straw and other soft materials.
When the baby eagles in the Stafford County nest were close to 12 weeks old, the adults had begun teaching them to fly. They started by encouraging them to jump from the nest and flap their wings enough to carry them a few yards to a dead branch on a nearby tree.
Byrd, who regularly observes nesting sites from a small plane, said the adult eagles may return to Stafford next winter.
``I think they'll come back to the area, maybe to another tree,'' he said. ``They could come back to the same tree.''
However, there are limits to eagles' ability to cope with people and development, Byrd said. There are also obvious dangers.
Two years ago, a full-grown eagle died as it swooped low over Interstate 95 in Stafford and was hit by a car. Periodically, eagles are shot.
To endure in eastern Virginia, eagles will have to learn to cope even better with humans.
``If they're going to survive in the long run,'' Byrd said, ``they don't have any alternative.''
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROBERT A. MARTIN The Free Lance-Star. 1. A female eagleby CNBbegins her landing toward her nest along the banks of Virginia's
Rappahannock River. 2. A pair of 2-month-old eagles share a branch
not far from their nest in Fredericksburg, Va. 3. A single flap of
his wings lifts a male bald eagle from its perch into
the air. In 1977, researchers reported approximately 33 eagle nests
in Virginia. Now, there are almost 200, a survey finds, and "they're
popping up in weird places," said William and Mary ornithologist
Mitchell Byrd. color.