Local Bald Eagle Population On Rise

By Joey Benedict, staff reporter    

     Fifty years ago, if you told anybody that you saw a bald eagle on Cape Cod, nobody would believe you. Quite frankly, bald eagles didn’t exist on the Cape then. Fifty years ago, this national bird was on the endangered species list.

     The bald eagle decline began during the World War II time period as a result of habitat loss, hunting, and most notably the widespread use of DDT pesticides. These DDT pesticides affected the durability of eagle eggs and prevented the eagles from reproducing. It was not surprising then that the species quickly recovered after the United States and Canada banned the use of DDT and made shooting eagles illegal as well. In recent years, bald eagles have begun to inhabit Cape Cod.

     Although there are no “official” breeding pairs on Cape Cod yet, there have been a good number of sightings; and in the past few years, sightings have become fairly common in Mashpee and Provincetown. According to the recently compiled Breeding Bird Atlas 2, there have also been sightings across the Vineyard in the last five years. Hopefully, a couple nests will be discovered in future years. However, in the mean time, it’s good to know that bald eagle sightings are now at least believable.