Mascoma Chapter of New Hampshire Audubon
Update: Bald Eagle Recovery in the Upper Valley
The current (Nov-Dec 2012) issue of the New Hampshire Fish & Game's Wildlife Journal magazine features an article that I wrote focusing primarily on the resurgence of breeding bald eagles in the Connecticut River watershed in NH and VT. I've attached a PDF version of this article for your reading pleasure.
I want to thank all of our
cooperators -- federal and state natural resource managers, private landowners, conservation NGO and corporate partners, and field volunteers -- for your assistance in our efforts to document and enhance bald eagle recovery efforts in the upper portion of the Connecticut River watershed. And thanks to TransCanada Corporation for their support of this work through a multi-year Community Investment grant to NH Audubon.
Within the CT River watershed in the two states during the 2012 field season, we tallied 19 territorial pairs, 13 pairs incubating, 12 productive nests, and a total of 18 young fledged. With financial and logistical assistance from TransCanada, we completed shoreline surveys on Harriman (17+ mi shoreline) and Somerset (12.5 mi shoreline) reservoirs in southern VT, and 1st Connecticut Lake (15 mi shoreline) in northern NH. We also conducted canoe-based surveys on an additional 64 miles of the main stem of the CT River, plus
additional land and water-based surveys of roughly 15 other large water bodies. We increased the total number of known territories in the watershed by 6 pairs (+46%), the number of successful nests by 3 (+30%), and the number of young fledged by 3 (+20%).
Looking forward to more progress together in 2013!
- Chris