Bald Eagle Count On The Rise This Year In Maine

Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife endangered species coordinator Charlie Todd says bald eagle increases have been documented in all 16 counties in Maine, and are particularly strong down east in Washington and Hancock Counties, according to MainePublic.org. He added in the report that Maine is a good habitat for bald eagles, due to the many bodies of water for hunting prey and plenty of trees for nesting.

The decline of the birds in Maine dates back to World War 2 and the use of DDT, a synthetic organic compound used as an insecticide which tends to persist in the environment and become concentrated in animals at the head of the food chain, according to Mainepublic.org.

In 1967, biologists only found 21 nesting pairs of bald eagles in Maine, according to the report, and the aerial survey this year discovered 733 nesting pairs.