Pair of bald eagles nest annually next to golf course at Lake Shawnee. Here's what we know
Bald eagles have been nesting at Lake Shawnee since it was first reported in 2015.
On a large tree just left of the fairway on hole 16 at Lake Shawnee Golf Course, golfers and bird watchers alike can easily spot their giant nest.
In years past, the eagles have produced offspring from this exact spot.
As eagles mate for life and can live for up to 30 years, it's believed they are the same pair that have nested in this spot for the past eight years.
"As far as we know it is the same male, likely pair," Topeka Audubon Society president Sue Newland told The Capital-Journal via email.
"They have moved their nest several times, so it remains to be seen if they use last year's nest."
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Bald eagle population increasing in the United States
Bald eagles were listed in the Endangered Species Act in 1978 as endangered throughout the lower 48 states by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
Populations of Americas symbol have since increased dramatically to current estimates of 316,700 individuals, including 71,467 breeding pairs, based on data from 2018-19.
The species were delisted as an endangered species in August 2007.
In Kansas, 299 nesting territories have been reported by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. The first contemporary documentation of an active nest was in 1989 at Clinton Reservoir in Douglas County.
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The department has recently expanded a three-year research program into the species in Kansas this year with hopes of capturing GPS data on nestlings hatched this year in Barton, Stafford, Kingman, Reno, Chase, Morris, Geary and Pottawatomie counties.
“For 34 years, conservationists have done outstanding work documenting breeding activity and population expansion across the state,” KDWP terrestrial ecologist Zac Eddy said in the release.
“Having said that, little-to-no research has been completed on the ecology of the species. So, we still know very little about eaglet survival, seasonal range size, landscape and airspace use, and response to anthropogenic development or man-made structures in our state. With this research study, we aim to change that.”
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: These bald eagles nest annually at Topeka's Lake Shawnee
