THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 13, 1995 TAG: 9501130482
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Trader John was 'scoping the veldt near his country store on U.S. 17 north of Elizabeth City this week when he first saw the eagle.
``I was looking for deer with my binoculars and there was this magnificent bird sitting in a tree - a real, honest-to-gosh bald eagle, and what a sight!'' said John W. Kitchen.
``It was unmistakably a bald eagle: white on top and white on the bottom,'' said Kitchen, who spends almost as much time watching and caring for wildlife as he does running Trader John's Country Store.
``Then, the next day, the bird came to a tree next to the store. There's a squirrel nest in the tree and the eagle perched there, looking like it was thinking about building a bigger nest on top of the old one.''
Bald eagles are making a comeback in North Carolina and 11 thriving nesting aeries for the birds were located across the state last year, said Tom Henson of the N.C. Wildlife Commission.
Henson is the conservator for non-game and endangered wildlife in the Albemarle, and has his headquarters at Chocowinity in Beaufort County.
``Several of the nests are in our part of the state - the northeast,'' said Henson. ``The bald eagle population has been picking up since 1982.''
Paris Trail, a professional wildlife photographer in Chowan County, has been helping the Wildlife Commission keep track of the eagles.
``There are two nests on the Yeopim River, and another on Country Club Drive in Chowan County. I've seen still another in Martin County,'' said Trail.
He said he thought at least one fledging survived in one of the Yeopim River nests last year.
``The female bald eagle is larger than the male,'' said Henson, and sometimes the nests they build out of sticks and even cornstalks, are as much as 6 to 7 feet across.
``I've seen the birds deliberately fly into dead branches as big as your finger to knock them down for a nest.
``Usually the female lays two eggs and immediately begins to sit on them,'' Henson said.
``In a good year, when the feeding is plentiful, both fledglings can survive, but in lean times, the larger of the babies usually gets all the food and the other baby bird is out of luck.
``Small game is plentiful and this should be a pretty good year for eagles,'' Henson added, ``They're meat-eaters, you know, and I've seen some of them carrying large possums.''
There is a move afoot to take the multiplying national symbols off the endangered species list, Henson said, ``But I haven't seen anything about it lately.''
Is there any way the public can help the bald eagles repopulate the area?
``Sure; from our point of view it'll help to remember there's a $50,000 fine for harming one of these birds,'' said Henson. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
An adult bald eagle sits in a pine tree along U.S. 17 north of
Elizabeth City. ``I was looking for deer with my binoculars and
there was this magnificent bird sitting in a tree - a real,
honest-to-gosh bald eagle, and what a sight!'' Trader John W.
Kitchen said.
by CNB