Soaring Numbers

When America's founding fathers were selecting a national emblem back in

A bald eagle prepares to land on a dead tree. Once on the brink of extinction, eagle populations in Texas are now growing at a rate of 13 percent a year. At least three nesting pairs reside in Limestone County and there are confirmed nests in McLennan, Robertson and Freestone counties. Courtesy photo/Jerry Goodale of Dark Horse Productions Soaring Numbers January 1784, an elderly

statesman by the name of Benjamin Franklin campaigned vigorously against the bald eagle.

"It is a bird of bad moral character who lives by sharping and robbing," Franklin claimed. "He is generally poor and often very lousy. The turkey is a much more respectable bird."

A glance at the back of today's quarter reveals that Franklin lost his argument, and the eagle adorns not only America's money, but state and national seals as well. It is indeed an American icon, but it hasn't always been treated like one.

The victim of insecticides and poachers, the bald eagle nearly became extinct in the southern United States during the mid 1900s.

Two southern bald eagles sit on a tree limb outside their nest below the Lake Limestone dam in Robertson County. Once on the brink of extinction, eagle populations in Texas are now growing at a rate of 13 percent a year. Courtesy photo/Lake Ranger Robert Brown "Sheep and goat farmers shot them as predators for years," said Brent Ortego, a Texas Park & Wildlife biologist who specializes in eagles, "but the chemical DDT was the real culprit."

Ortego said DDT doesn't poison the birds, but it thins their egg shells.

"When an eagle sat on the thinned shells, the eggs broke," he said. "This kept them from reproducing."

Increased awareness and new health regulations have led to a major recovery in populations, and today bald eagle numbers are soaring in the eastern portion of Texas.

"Eagle populations in Texas have been growing at a rate of 13 percent a year since the 1970s," Ortego said. "In 1987, there were 18 pairs of nesting bald eagles in the state. Now there are about 200 pairs."

Much of that growth has occurred in a region known as the Post Oak Savannah, which includes Limestone and surrounding counties. The region is bounded by Interstate 35 to the west, the Piney Woods to the east and the Red River to the north. It stretches south as far as Bryan and Cameron.

Ortego said the only nesting pair of bald eagles in the Post Oak region in 1987 was at a private lake in Robertson County. By 1992 the region had five nesting pairs, and that number increased to 12 by 2002. In 2005, the last year Texas Parks & Wildlife conducted an aerial survey, the department counted 25 nesting pairs of bald eagles in the region. That number likely is significantly higher today, he said.

There are pairs of nesting bald eagles throughout the region, and many are within about 50 miles of Groesbeck, he said.

"There are three pairs at Lake Limestone," he said. "One pair is right on the lake, the other pair is just below the dam in Robertson County."

There also are nesting eagles at Lake Waco, Fairfield Lake, Twin Oak Reservoir (near Kosse), and on the Brazos River not far from Riesel. There's also a nesting pair at Lake Mexia, but it hasn't been officially confirmed by a TP&W aerial survey so those birds are not included in our numbers."

Ortego said eagles have been nesting around Lake Limestone since 1994, and at one time there were three pairs.

"There were two on the lake and one behind the dam," he said, "but one of the nests on the lake has fallen from its tree."

Lake Limestone Ranger Robert Brown said a new nest has been located on private property south of the dam in Robertson county. That nest also isn't included in the TP&W numbers because it wasn't there during the 2005 count.

Tom Fisher, park superintendent at Fort Parker State Park, said a nesting pair was discovered near the Navasota River last winter and the birds have been seen as recently as April. Also, eagles have been spotted at Falls on the Brazos Park near Marlin.

Ortego said it is hard to distinguish between bald eagles who are wintering in the area and eagles who actually make their homes here.

Eagles who winter in Texas are northern bald eagles, which means they normally live north of the 40th parallel. Eagles who nest in Texas are southern bald eagles, which usually are slightly smaller in size, but Ortego said it is hard to distinguish between the two.

Ortego said one of the reasons eagle numbers are flourishing in Texas is an increase in habitat.

"Eagles like to live around lakes, and a lot of lakes in this state were created by dams built in the 1960s and 70s," he said. "There are only two natural freshwater lakes in Texas -- Green Lake near Port Lavaca and Caddo Lake along the Texas and Louisiana state line. The rest were made by man."

Ortego said if bald eagles are to continue their recovery in Texas, they must have adequate food supplies and they must have private nesting areas.

"Eagles tend to nest away from people," he said. "The problem is, more and more people are building homes on lake shorelines, which is prime breeding ground for bald eagles. We're still OK now -- there are a lot of secluded lakes in Texas -- but it may be a problem in the future."