Bald eagles on the rise in North Dakota: Game and Fish estimates state has 140 active nests

Nearly on the brink of extinction for the latter half of the 20th century, bald eagles are beginning to reappear in large numbers across the state.
A recent nest count by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department showed that populations have risen from 15 active nests at the turn of the century to approximately 140 sites in 2015.
“Eagles are definitely doing better than they have in the past,” Game and Fish conservation biologist Sandra Johnson said. “Within the last few years, we have seen a lot more eagles coming and going, especially during spring and fall migrations.”
While the southwest part of the state has not seen the spike in species numbers other areas have witnessed, Johnson said she suspects eagles will continue to migrate west.
Game and Fish counts birds by surveying areas they believe would provide a viable habitat.
Employees at the department survey areas along the Missouri River and Red River frequently because of abundant nest building and hunting resources. They survey other areas largely based off of tips they receive from the community about sightings.
Johnson admits while their count does give an overall estimate of eagles nesting in the state, the method has errors.
Eileen Andes, chief of interpretation at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, said she has seen bald eagles in the southwest part of the state. The park sometimes hosts releases for golden eagles and bald eagles.
While she was driving a month ago, Andes said she saw an eagle soaring above. She has also seen one in the South Unit of the park, just north of Medora.
“They are big birds that fly around a lot,” Andes said. “So they are generally easy to spot.”
She said that, while there are not any active nests in the park that staff knows of, it is possible to see an eagle, especially in the winter months, gliding above.
Ron Martin, president of the North Dakota Birding Society, said a good spot to see one of the white-headed birds is along the banks of Dickinson’s Patterson Lake, where water and trees provide a viable habitat for the birds.
He, too, has noticed an increase in bald eagle numbers across the state.
“On Dec. 14, at the annual Garrison Dam Christmas Bird Count, we tallied 62 Bald Eagles. This number tied our high count in this area,” Martin said in an email.
But it wasn’t always like this.
The once-abundant populations along the Red and Missouri rivers in the 1800s were drastically reduced during the following century. The decline is largely attributed to environmental contaminants as well as the loss of habitat.
Johnson said DDT was found to be a large factor in the decreasing population. The chemical - used in insect-killing pesticides, as well as a variety of products like mosquito repellents and hairspray - thinned the casing of bird eggshells, cracking the delicate surface during incubation.
While habitat destruction is also another cause for the dip in numbers, Johnson said while people once thought bald eagles required pristine living conditions to survive, this isn’t necessarily the case.
These birds really only require trees to build a nest, a water source and animals to hunt, Johnson said, all of which can be found in North Dakota.
Johnson said she also saw an eagle on her commute home from work one day.
“They are around the area,” she said. “When you go outside, don’t forget to look up.”