Just Like People, Bald Eagles Now Need A Permit For Where They Can Build Their Homes

Just like every other American, there are limits to what bald eagles are free to do - including build their nests where they want. In all seriousness, no one can really object to the actions taken by officals this time.

Rescue workers approaching a lighting pole located in the right outfield of the Ed Smith Stadium in Florida to remove two eagle eggs. Photo courtesy of the American Eagle Foundation.

Late last year, a pair of bald eagles built a new nest on top of a 135- foot lighting pole located in the right outfield of the Ed Smith Stadium (the Florida spring training ground of the Boston Orioles). The ball players are scheduled to arrive early next month. With eggs already in the nest, the concerns were obvious.

Being in the way of flying balls, lots of noise, and commuter traffic isn’t the most ideal place for eagles, or anyone else for that matter to raise a family.

Officials contacted the American Eagle Foundation to come remove the eggs, cover the nest site with a tarp, and thereby evict the eagles from the stadium. AEF staffers went down to the stadium from Tennessee last month with incubators to safely transport the eggs back to foundation’s Eagle Center at Dollywood.

The rest of the lighting poles in the stadium were also modified to discourage any new nest from being built on them.

“Since it’s still early in Florida’s breeding season, the adult birds could still possibly lay a second clutch at a different more ideal nesting location,” said Al Cecere, president and founder of the AEF.

As far as any hatching that occur at the foundation from the nest, the eaglets will either be fed by human-operated eagle puppets or by non-releasable eagle foster-parents at the facility.

“Over the years, our conservation group has hatched and raised many eaglets for release into the wild. If that happens this time, the eaglets will likely be released by early April,” said Mr. Cecere.

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