Eagles….Look No Further Than The Banks Of The Singing River

TUSCUMBIA-When most people think of where to go to see bald eagles, a trip to the Rocky Mountains or Alaska often comes to mind.

For bird watchers in Colbert and Lauderdale counties, seeing bald eagles does not require leaving Alabama or 

The majestic birds, America’s national bird and a symbol of freedom, are becoming increasingly common in the Quad-Cities of Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, Tuscumbia and Florence. Bald eagles nests can be found along Wilson and Pickwick lakes within the city limits of Muscle Shoals, Florence and Sheffield.

Susann Hamlin, executive director of Colbert County Tourism and Convention Bureau, said visitors to her office looking for places to see bald eagles are often surprised when she directs them to urban locations.

Susann Hamlin

January and February are a prime time for seeing bald eagles in the Shoals. In addition to the nesting pairs that live in the region year round, dozens of eagles from northern states migrate south to escape the cold and spend late winter around Tennessee Valley Authority lakes..

Keith Hudson, a retired wildlife biologist for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources who lives in Florence, attributes the urban eagles to an ever-increasing population of bald eagles and the birds becoming increasingly tolerant of humans.

Hudson said the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources released bald eagles along the Tennessee River in the 1980s as part of a nationwide effort to restore populations of the birds that had been pushed to the brink of extinction in the 1960s by loss of habitat and the use of the pesticide DDT.

The pesticide is blamed for causing bald eagles and other fish-eating birds to lay eggs with shells too thin to survive incubation. The pesticide was ingested by the birds when they ate fish that had eaten DDT-tainted insects.

Efforts to restore bald eagle populations began in the 1960s and by 1974, when DDT was banned in the United States, there were 791 nesting pairs of bald eagles, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

By 1990, the population had increased to 3,035 nesting pairs. In 2000, there were 6,471 nesting pairs and in 2006, 9,789 pairs were reported.

The fish and wildlife service reports Alabama went from no nesting pairs of bald eagles in 1990 to 77 pairs in 2006 and an estimated more than 100 pairs today.

Hudson said there are so many bald eagles now living in Alabama that the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources no longer attempts to monitor all of the nests. Before 2006, Hudson and other biologists monitored bald eagle nests around the state.

Hudson said there are at least 10 bald eagle nests along or near the Tennessee River between Wheeler Dam and the Tennessee line.