FORT RILEY, Kan -- Ben Postlethwait, a voluntary climber with Westar Energy, climbed up the cottonwood tree near Milford Nature Center May 2 to his destination -- the bald eagle's nest.
Much to his surprise, when he reached the top and peeked in the nest, three eaglets were staring at him, eyes wide with wonder. He crawled in the nest and the banding began.
Since the first documentation of a bald eagle's nest in Kansas, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has kept a database of banded eagles. Dan Mulhern, fish and wildlife biologist from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, led the banding this year and said the banding is typically done when the eagle is about 6 weeks old.
"You don't want to push it too much more than that because at that time frame, they don't have their flight feathers fully developed so they are less likely to jump whereas if you get into 8 or 9 weeks old, birds can get a little more jumpy," Mulhern said.
This year there are about 100 active eagle nests in Kansas, and after this banding, 11 eaglets had been banded. Each year, a team of biologists comes to Fort Riley to band eagles. Although Fort Riley is home to one successful nest this year, Mulhern and his team of biologists decided not to band the eaglet because of the risk associated with it.
"It looked like it might be pushing the 8- to 9-week age limit," Mulhern said. "Every time a bird leaves the nest to escape us -- thinking it can fly, but it can't fly yet -- you have a high risk of injury. We want to minimize that as much as we can."
Immature eaglets have brown plumage with some white blotches. They do not develop their characteristic white head and tail until they are about 5 years old. During banding, biologists measured the bill and talons. This gives the biologists the gender of the eagle based on the measurements they ended up with. Females are larger than males.
"We're doing it so we can find out what's going on with these birds, sometimes where they come from or in the case of the ones we're banding, where they go to," Mulhern said. "We have returns (for their location) from all over the United States."
The bald eagle has been the nation's symbol since 1782. They were federally listed on an endangered species list in 1967 where it remained until the U.S. Department of the Interior removed it in 2007. It remains protected by several federal laws including the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Lacey Act.
Anyone who disturbs or harms a bald eagle may be assessed with a maximum penalty of a $250,000 fine and/or given a two-year jail sentence.
Mike Houck, threatened and endangered species biologist, Fort Riley Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division, Conservation Branch, assisted with the local eagle banding this year.
"We're pretty much here for support," Houck said. "Sometimes we get lucky and hold the bird while they do all the measurements. The Fish and Wildlife Service biologists do all the measurements because it's their deal."
Bald eagles have been documented to live up to 50 years in captivity and more than 30 years in the wild. Eagles usually mate for life, and generally return to nest within 100 miles from where they were born. The banding is not harmful to the Eagles in any way.
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