FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. - Seeing bald eagles around the installation wasn’t anything new to Fort Indiantown Gap wildlife staffers or to those who keep their eyes toward the sky at the more than 17,000-acre central Pennsylvania military installation and the Pennsylvania National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters.
But something very different occurred when an avid outdoorsman walked into the wildlife office in the fall of 2014 and reported a pair of bald eagles carrying large sticks on the installation.
It wasn’t long before the wildlife staff had real evidence of the first bald eagle nest in the recorded history of the installation.
“We had to get very smart in bald eagle management regulatory guidelines very fast,” said wildlife program manager Joseph Hovis, reflecting back on last year. “This became an additional regulatory species for us to concentrate our efforts on managing, and it certainly wasn’t without its challenges given the installation hosts one of the busiest heliports in the nation.”
The bald eagle is currently listed as a protected species in Pennsylvania and protected under the Game and Wildlife Code. It was removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007, but remains protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
With what would become a successful management plan in place minimizing human activity, the story of the Fort Indiantown Gap nest followed a very similar pattern to other area nests with submitted data and observations indicating eggs being laid around Valentine’s Day, evidence of hatching around the beginning of April and fledging in June.
In the end, only one nestling was observed being fed, which is not uncommon according to Patti Barber, a biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s endangered and nongame birds section.
“It is certainly not unusual to only have one chick as the normal clutch for a bald eagle ranges from one to three eggs. In general, more established pairs tend to lay more eggs than younger pairs,” said Barber.
Barber further explained, “As is true with most raptors, about half of all chicks make it out of the nest and of those chicks that fledge about half survive their first year. After that first year, their life expectancy goes up quite a bit. Some bald eagles are still alive and nesting successfully at 26 years old.”
After successfully fledging in June, the juvenile eagle was seen hanging out in the area for several weeks and dispersed as expected, but its expected departure left yet another feather in the cap for the installation.
“Fort Indiantown Gap has an established history of successfully managing our natural resources alongside our complex military training mission,” said Lt. Col. Robert Hepner, garrison commander. “While there were definitely new challenges encountered for the installation in managing a bald eagle nest, in the end this becomes another successful achievement for the installation’s robust environmental program.”
The installation’s success also becomes part of Pennsylvania’s bald eagle success story.
“We often refer to the bald eagle as one of the greatest wildlife success stories, but it just keeps getting better,” said Barber. “I don’t think anyone in their wildest dreams would have thought after only having three nests in the state 30 years ago, that today there would be nearly 300 nests spread across the commonwealth.”
With a historic first nesting season at the installation now complete, the big question remains will the bald eagles return for another try later this year? According to Hovis and Barber, data and observations at other nests suggests a high probability that they will indeed be back.