Nice article in the
Times Herald Record today. Someone we all know is mentioned. (I hate copying over the whole thing, but they've recently started requiring log-in's & paying for some content, so if the link is a hassle...)
By Wayne Hall
Published: 2:00 AM - 10/31/10
Pete Nye knows threatened bald eagles like you know your children. Find an eagle-nesting tree in Ulster, Sullivan or Orange counties and Nye's likely been up it to make sure these threatened birds are OK.
But the job held by Nye — the state Department of Environmental Conservation's Endangered Species Unit leader — is extinct. He took the early retirement incentives during deep cutbacks of DEC staff.
Nye says he isn't planning to strap on those long, metal, bark-biting spikes again that took him up tall timber "many thousands of times" — where he was bloodied once in a while by very big eagle babies armed with full talons.
But he's sticking around to advise on the follow-up to the amazing story of how he and a small band of DEC "eagle maniacs" in 1976 set out to restore a New York state bald-eagle population — laced with the the insecticide DDT — that was down to one pair.
To restore the bald eagles, the DEC took a page from the successful peregrine falcon restoration.
They got eaglets from other states, raised them by hidden human hands on platforms, then released them.
The eagles took to New York like natives, producing offspring soon after the first pair mated.
What a moment that was, recalls retired DEC senior wildlife technician Mike Allen. He shed tears.
"I just broke down, I was so overwhelmed. To have been part of this, I feel blessed out of my socks."
But it wasn't easy getting other states to part with their eaglets, because in all the lower 48, eagles were endangered or threatened.
So the DEC team went to Alaska and got eagles there.
But not without a Juneau, Alaska, newspaper flashing a cartoon showing what the Alaskan eaglets could expect for habitat in New York — a woman sitting on a bench in what looked like Central Park feeding seeds to eagles.
New York's got an update for that cartoonist:
In 2009, the state welcomed 223 eagle babies, born to 123 successful eagle moms and dads. Hundreds of bald eagles are now New Yorkers.
Last February, 257 bald eagles (including some eagle out-of-staters) roosted in the lower Hudson River, where they dine largely on "sushi" from power-plant fish meals.
We know this because Nye counts them with his team from a New York State Police helicopter and coordinates the numbers of wintering eagles using ground spotters.
How does Nye think the birds are doing?
"For the short term, they'll be fine. But my concern is over the long run. I've been quite the defender of nest sites against human disturbance, which is a kind of constant pressure.
"They're still listed as threatened in New York, but I'm sure there'll be pressure to de-list them entirely, and then we won't have that nexus to review and propose mitigations (as threatened species). We could see the population start to go in the other direction again."
He'll be watching.
"I'm not going anywhere," says Nye. He's a DEC volunteer. "I'm going to keep my finger on the pulse of eagles," he says. "I've a got a huge army of volunteers out there that I've grown very close to, and vice versa. And I'm sure they're going to keep me posted."
Yes, they will, says Tom Lake, the DEC's estuary naturalist who does the ground count of wintering eagles.
"Pete Nye drew us beyond the initial wonder and awe of eagles into a relationship of profound respect that allowed us to better understand and appreciate the natural history of these incredible raptors," Lake says.
Like watching two bald eagles lock talons in mid-air and do dizzying somersaults.
scribewayne@aol.com
