The sight of an American bald eagle in Massachusetts is rare and exciting. But the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is thrilled that it’s not as uncommon as it once was.
With a fresh coat of snow blanketing the shores of Monponsett Pond on Thursday, Paul Holmes figured it a perfect photo opportunity for next season’s Christmas cards.
Even better, where the water opens into a picturesque scene on the Halifax pond’s east banks, waterfowl sometimes roam.
Holmes spotted something, but this was no waterfowl.
“I happened to see this good-sized bird,” the 67-year-old Plympton resident said. “I didn’t know what it was at the time. He was feasting on something.
The sight of an American bald eagle in Massachusetts is both rare and exciting. But the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is thrilled that it’s not as uncommon as it once was.
Officials announced earlier this month that MassWildlife’s annual wintering bald eagle survey documented a state-record 107 birds, nearly double that of a decade ago.
A product of the state’s eagle restoration program instituted in the 1980s, there are 32 nesting pairs in Massachusetts, including at the Assawompsett Pond complex in Lakeville.
The rise in numbers makes sighting likes Holmes’ more common but no less special.
“I didn’t even see the second one come in, I was so focused in on the first,” said Holmes, adding he saw them again in the same area Friday morning.
Marion Larson, a biologist with the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, said it’s possible the pair Holmes observed was migratory, possibly from Canada or northern New England.
Imagine South Beach – with a 6-foot snow drift.
“The young birds, immature birds or maybe there’s an adult that lost a mate, they may move up and down the Eastern Seaboard freely,” Larson said.
While bald eagles were removed from the national endangered species list in July 2007, they remain on the Massachusetts list. But there’s been definite progress.
The eagles have come a long way since 1979, when only eight statewide were surveyed.