Roadkill is oldest bald eagle ever documented in wild (Montreal)

[Donna]

The dead bird found on a New Brunswick highway this year turned out to be no ordinary roadkill specimen.

Wildlife biologists have traced the metal ring on the raptor's leg to a bird-banding program carried out in Maine in 1977, making the avian accident victim the oldest bald eagle ever documented in the wild.

Despite its unfortunate demise in April after being struckbyacareastof St. Stephen, N.B., the creature's unprecedented longevity is seen as another hopeful sign of the resurgence of the iconic species -one of the most potent symbols of U.S. patriotism -following its threatened extinction in the 1960s.

Bruce Peterjohn, chief of the Bird Banding Laboratory at the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland, told Postmedia News the eagle's record-setting age - pegged at 32 years, 10 months -suggests habitat rehabilitation efforts and other binational conservation measures are giving members of the majestic species a much better chance of living a long, well-fed life than they had 40 years ago.

"The fact that the BBL has recently received several reports of bald eagles reaching ages of 29 to 32-plus years suggests that their populations are responding well to the habitats available to support them in eastern North America," Peterjohn said.

"Bald eagle populations have recovered from pesticide-induced lows of the 1960s and early 1970s and are now being reported in numbers that have not been seen for more than 70 years."

The postwar use of the pesticide DDT, later found to have weakened birds' eggshells and severely curbed eagle reproduction, eventually landed the white-headed raptor on endangered species lists across the continent.

But the banning of DDT, heightened efforts to preserve critical habitat and other steps to boost chick survival have helped bald eagle numbers rebound on both sides of the Canada-U. S. border in recent years.

Last month, a dead bird discovered on a roadside near Duluth, Minn., was found to have been tagged in that state in June 1978, making it the second-oldest bald eagle recorded in the wild after the New Brunswick individual.

Bald eagles in captivity have been known to live longer than 33 years. In fact, a flightless female bald eagle called Charlie -which has been cared for by B.C. wildlife advocates since it lost a wing after colliding with a power line decades ago -is believed to be at least 40 years old.

Based on its band number, the New Brunswick bird is known to have been tagged as a chick on June 23, 1977 - two months before the death of Elvis Presley -near Perry, Me., about 40 kilometres southof St. Stepheninthe southeast corner of the state.

THE GAZETTE: Montreal