Georgia DNR, Wildlife Resources Division
The national bird is still flying high in our state.
Georgia DNR’s annual bald eagle survey found the iconic raptors nesting at average to just below average levels in the southern part of the state, the region this year’s survey focused on. Of 176 active nests, 127 were successful, fledging an estimated 190 eaglets, according to survey leader Dr. Bob Sargent.
Accounting for areas not monitored this year, Sargent said the numbers suggest Georgia has maintained over 200 nest territories a year since 2015, the first time the state count topped that milestone. Twenty-five years ago, only 55 nest territories were reported in Georgia.
Young bald eagle near a nest this spring (Becky Cover/Special to DNR)
DNR monitors eagle nesting by helicopter, splitting the state into five sections. While the coast is surveyed annually, other areas are checked at least every other year. (The entire state is flown every five years.) Flights in January and February mark nests in use. Follow-up flights in March and April gauge nest success rates – the number of nests fledging at least one young.
This year’s survey covered southwest Georgia, plus the coastal counties and barrier islands. The results also included 16 nests monitored by volunteers or biologists with partner agencies.
Nest success rates ranged from slightly below average in southwest Georgia (68 percent) to average on the coast (73 percent). The 190 eaglets fledged overall equates to 1.5 per successful nest, which is in line with the state’s long-term average. But there were notable differences between this year’s data and the last time both areas were surveyed in the same year – 2023.
Sargent, a program manager with DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section, said that two years ago the southwestern region had 92 territories, 69 successful nests (a 75 percent success rate) and 113 eaglets fledged. Those numbers slipped this year to 79 territories, 54 successful nests (68 percent success) and 86 fledglings.
The decline in nests territories likely resulted from storm damage, which would not be unusual, particularly with hurricanes Helene and Milton sweeping through Georgia last fall, according to Sargent. “During the January survey of that area, I saw a few more falling and fallen nests than I usually see.”
However, he said the dip in the number of successful nests and fledglings may point to avian influenza, which ravaged bald eagles on the coast in 2022. Sargent recorded more empty nests than usual along the lower Chattahoochee River and some southwest Georgia reservoirs this winter.
“It’s entirely possible the eagle population in that area took a delayed hit from avian influenza. I say delayed because eagle mortalities and nest failures from the initial outbreak of the disease were confined to the coastal counties. But we know from necropsy reports this past winter that the disease has since spread to inland eagles, especially so among birds in the Chattahoochee watershed.”
Bald eagle takes off in north Georgia (Ron Goldfarb/Special to DNR)
If so, the way eagle nesting bounced back on the coast may spur hope. In 2022, as bird flu waylaid adult and young eagles in coastal counties, Sargent reported only 34 successful coastal nests and 50 fledglings. Yet those counts rose the next year and reached a healthy 59 successful nests and 83 eaglets fledged this year.
Bald eagles have shown a penchant for rebounding – in Georgia and across the species’ range. Factors feeding that recovery include a U.S. ban on DDT use in 1972, habitat improvements after enactment of the federal Clean Water and Clean Air acts, protection through the Endangered Species Act, increased public awareness, regrowth of forests and restoration of local populations through release programs.
Following a steep decline in the eagle population in Georgia, the state went from no known successful nests during most of the 1970s to one in 1981, 55 by the turn of the century and more than 200 today.
An adult eagle chases off a previous season’s eaglet at Lake Allatoona. (Ron Goldfarb/Special to DNR)
EAGLE NESTING/AT A GLANCE
- Occupied bald eagle nest territories: 176*
- Successful nests: 127
- Young fledged: 190 (1.5/nest)
- New nests (first time surveyed): 16
- Overall nest success rate: 72 percent
- By region (occupied nests/successful nests/young fledged/new nests): Coast: 81 occupied; 59 successful; 83 fledged; five new nests
Southwest: 79 occupied; 54 successful; 86 fledged; six new - Nests monitored (apart from flights): 16 occupied; 14 successful; 21 fledged; three new
*Not a statewide survey. Learn more about how the survey works.
REPORT NESTS
The public is encouraged to report bald eagle nests online, by phone (478) 994-1438) or email (bob.sargent@dnr.ga.gov). Such reports lead to the discovery of about 10 nests a year. (Note: Osprey nests are sometimes confused with eagles. Learn more at georgiawildlife.com/bald-eagle.)
DNR works with landowners to help protect bald eagle nests on private property. Although delisted from the Endangered Species Act in 2007, eagles are protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and state law. In Georgia, the species is classified as threatened.
HELP CONSERVE EAGLES AND OTHER WILDLIFE
The bald eagle nesting surveys are part of DNR Wildlife Conservation Section’s mission to conserve nongame wildlife – native animals not legally hunted or fished for – along with native plants and natural habitats.
The conservation of bald eagles is supported in part by people who buy an eagle or monarch license plate or renew these or the older hummingbird designs. The tags cost only $25 more than a standard license plate and $19 of each purchase and $20 of each annual renewal goes to help conserve eagles and hundreds of other Georgia plant and animal species listed as species of conservation concern.
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