Bald eagles have survived multiple challenges and are now on the uprise, but the biggest concern is on small birds.
Before, Catherine Lindell, an associate professor who studies bird populations, barely saw bald eagles in public. Now, Lindell sees them often.
“We're so glad that they're increasing because it takes them so long to overcome population threats,” Lindell said. In 1960, there were nearly 200 birds in the state; now there are over 1,800.
“You know, eagles are not going to reproduce till they're five or six years old,” Lindell said. Smaller bird species can reproduce every year, meaning they can recover faster from declines.
“Big birds of prey cannot do it so quickly, and so you know rates of decline are really going to vary depending on the lifestyle of the bird,” Lindell said. Insecticides and hunting are what caused the original decline in raptor species, such as the bald eagle and Cooper's hawk.
“I mean, and there's going to be ups and downs, you know, over the years,” said Lindell. Bald eagles have gone through many trials, such as in 2022, when the avian flu hit them particularly hard. Additionally, bald eagles will eat small animals who have intake lead. Then that will kill the bald eagles.
This hasn’t stopped bald eagles and pairs of them keep growing.
“We've come from a place where there were almost no bald eagles. I mean, there were fewer than 100 pairs, and now we've got hundreds of pairs all over the state,” Lindell said, continuing, “So, when we use what we know and have a will to reverse these declines, I think we can do it.” Lindell hopes that conservationists can take the lessons learned from bald eagles into other species that are declining.
In the United States, there has been a significant decline in bird populations. According to a State of the Birds report, there has been a 43% decrease in the number of grassland birds, and a 27% decline in the number of eastern forest birds.
“There's a wide range of reasons why bird species are declining,” Lindell said. In Michigan, there are over 20 endangered or threatened bird species, such as the Henslow’s sparrow and the Common tern.
“I mean, as a general rule, many bird species have been declining over the years, over the last several decades,” said Lindell. The American Kestrel, a small raptor and grassland birds have been declining over the past few decades.
“We know public education is important, like informing people and potentially, you know, putting into force regulations to control lead shot or materials,” Lindell said. The better taught the public is, the better conservation efforts can be.
“When there are regulations put in place so people don't use lead shot, for example, for certain hunted organisms, then that can help,” Lindell said.