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I’ve written a book entitled “The Naturalist’s Almanac” which chronicles the natural history of our area. That “Almanac” talks about the cyclic nature of the natural world. With that in mind it is once again time to write about bald eagles.

The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District has its two Bald Eagle Viewing Facilities open until Feb. 22. They are open on Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time. The facilities are located south of Lexington at the Johnson #2 (J2) power plant and below Kingsley Dam on the shore of Lake Ogallala. There is no admission fee, and you can sit in the warmth and watch the birds.

That was not the case with my first bald eagle. My first bald eagle was at Walden State Recreation Area near Hay Springs, when I was about 10-years-old. My mentor, Doris Gates, a biology professor at Chadron State College, called my mom and dad and asked if they wanted to go find a couple of bald eagles that had been reported in the area. Dad said “yes,” and they took me along in Doris’ Chrysler convertible. It was March. It was misting. It was cold. We went anyway. Doris kept the top up on the way to Hay Springs, but once at Walden State Recreation Area, the top came down so that we all could see well, and the rain came in. We didn’t care. There, in the trees about 100 yards away, were two adult bald eagles. At the time, there were fewer than 50 in the entire State of Nebraska. We sat in the wet and cold for almost an hour before the birds flew and we could put up the top and turn on the heat.

Bald eagles were one of three species that were the “poster animals” for the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The bald eagle along with the gray whale and whooping crane were the driving force in the passage of the act protecting rare and diminishing species. Who didn’t want to save these “charismatic megafauna” from extinction?

The first step was to just stop shooting the darn things. That worked quite well for all three species because, although protected through a law and an international treaty, people were still collecting bounties by killing bald eagles. With the Endangered Species Act killing them became a federal offense. In addition, about that same time the use of DDT was outlawed. DDT was used to kill bugs that were then eaten by fish. The DDT didn’t breakdown and as it built up in the fish they got sick and were easy prey for the eagles.

The DDT built up in the eagles impacting their ability to secrete calcium around the developing egg. When the bird laid the egg, the shell broke. No more baby eagles! Look at the effect that not shooting them and no more DDT has had on the species. In 1976 as part of our Bicentennial Celebration the National Wildlife Federation organized an eagle survey of the lower 48 states. They counted only 2,000 adult bald eagles and almost no juveniles. In Nebraska there were 30 adults.

Just last week at the J2 facility Dennis White, the host, counted 31 eagles fishing in the open canal below the plant. In January of 2023, there were 316,708 bald eagles counted in the lower 48 states, with Nebraska contributing over 2,000 of them. There were 71,000 active nests that year with 208 of them here in Nebraska. As I said at the beginning of this column, life is cyclic and we are at the best point in the bald eagle cycle in which to watch the birds. Come out to the Eagle Viewing Facilities and take a look at our National Bird before they all start spreading out and migrating north.