By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-44-226.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.44.226) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 4:38 pm: Edit Post |
Ecuador RPCV Mike Smith is a bald eagle specialist who checks out eagle conditions and development over a wide area of California
Ecuador RPCV Mike Smith is a bald eagle specialist who checks out eagle conditions and development over a wide area of California
Second eaglet discovered at Bass Lake
By Bill Campeau
for the Sierra Star
Bill Campeau
Caption: Bass Lake wildlife biologist Ron Cummings (left) and Mike Smith, check the eagle aerie to record development of the two hatchlings that seem to be developing well.
By Bill Campeau for the Sierra Star
Bass Lake has two bald eagle hatchlings, the discovery of a second eaglet in the aerie having been made more recently by Ron Cummings, wildlife biologist at the Bass Lake Ranger District headquarters, and Mike Smith, a bald eagle specialist who checks out eagle conditions and development over a wide area of California.
The two young birds now stand nearly 12 inches high and are into their transition or secondary down period. According to Smith, they will soon begin to develop flight plumage. However, they will continue to stay in the nest at least another five to six weeks.
It is important, Smith stressed, that a wide berth be given the birds at this critical time in the development of their young. “The parents get edgy and extremely nervous and if their immediate area is encroached upon or disturbed they could abandon the babies. That is why closure of an area of a radius of one-quarter mile around the nest tree must be respected by everybody.” All of Forest Road 7S24 and the portion of Goat Mountain Trail from the Forks Campground, and the road paralleling the Bas Lake campground along Road 222 is included. PG & E has posted its land with “no trespassing” signs on the uphill side of Road 222 and Madera County has marked “no parking” along the county road. The closure will continue until August 1, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The closed area restricts entry by persons for recreation, woodcutting, and projects for vegetation management and other work activities.
The two eaglets are the first to be born in Bass Lake in three years. In 1999, eagles produced three hatchlings in a nest that the eagles “expropriated” from an osprey. But the eagles did not fare well in the following years. It is believed the original male is still here.
(For the history of the original female — Eagle #31 — please see sidebar story below.) Smith said that the eagle population fell dangerously low during the 1960s when less than 100 birds were counted in California. Today, that number has risen to about 480.
Smith, whose love for bald and golden eagles is apparent in conversation, is just one calculus class away from his masters degree at Fresno State. He earned his B.A. degree from Loyola University before it became Loyola-Marymount. Cummings received his biology degree from Oregon State University, worked with wild birds in the Peace Corps in Ecuador for two years and has been with the U.S. Forest Service since 1988.
Eagles feed their young a fish diet. They rip and shred the fish which the hatchlings gobble down. One of the parents usually is either in the aerie or nearby.