Since today is the birthday of our great nation, I thought I would write about a story I read last week on the American Bald Eagle.  It isn’t a story with a happy ending, but it is one that shows the resilience of these great birds.

      The Duluth Tribune News reported on a specific eagle found dead back in June of this year.  In and of it self there was nothing special about someone finding an eagle carcass, that was until they found that the recently expired bird had a leg band on it.  A member of the Wisconsin DNR found the band on the leg and did some checking to see what could be found out about the bird.  Come to find out, the eagle was banded back on June 25, 1977 as an eaglet.  That makes this female eagle the oldest known documented eagle in the midwest.  It lived about 31 years before it died of unknown causes.  There was no visual trauma to the bird or any other obvious causes for death. 

     When it was banded in 1977, it was in the Ottawa National Forest on the Michigan and Wisconsin boarder in the Sylvania Wilderness area.  The nest that it was found in, is still being used today by a nesting pair of eagles in a large white pine.  At that time in the 70’s there were 82 pairs counted in a survey in Wisconsin.  That total is now over 1200 pair.  This goes to show just how well the birds recovered after almost becoming extinct.  They are now off the endangered species list, but they are still protected by federal law.

     With this being the birthday of our great nation, I thought it was fitting to remember just how far we have come as a nation and just how far these majestic birds have come from a near extinction.  Have a happy and safe 4th of July everyone!