NH Audubon has been a leader in monitoring and management of the state’s recovering Bald Eagle population for over three decades. NH Audubon conservation biologists have coordinated New Hampshire’s portion of the national Mid-winter Bald Eagle annually since 1980. Volunteers count eagles throughout the state each winter in mid-January and late February and monitor the occupancy of sensitive winter night roosts.
When Bald Eagles started to nest in the Granite State again in 1989 after a 40-yr hiatus, NH Audubon initiated management actions that insured a successful outcome. Now, as then, NH Audubon staff installs metal predator guards, maintains reduced-disturbance buffer zones, and works with NH Fish & Game to advise private land owners on how to best protect and manage eagle breeding sites.
Currently, there are over 20 breeding pairs of Bald Eagles in New Hampshire, and the numbers are rising. The Bald Eagle was removed from the federal Threatened and Endangered Species List in 2007, and downlisted from Endangered to Threatened on the New Hampshire T&E List in September 2008. Volunteers can learn more about becoming involved in our on-going monitoring and management of Bald Eagles by contacting raptor specialist Chris Martin in the Conservation Department.
Project Leader: Chris Martin
Photo (circle): adult and chick in Orford, NH, by Judy Lombardi.
