U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agency Dan Rolince told The Virginian-Pilot (http://bit.ly/18hXA3S ) that the birds showed traces of the chemical in their system. The chemical was not identified.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Sgt. Steve Garvis said authorities believe the eagles' deaths were accidental. A sixth eagle survived.

"We sometimes see one or two poisoned birds, but six? And with five dying? That's unheard of," said Randy Huwa, executive vice president of the Wildlife Center of Virginia, a renowned animal-care clinic in Waynesboro.

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by Ron Popowski and Kathleen Clark

Bald eagle soaring over New Jersey's Cape May National Wildlife Refuge.

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By S.P. Sullivan
May 01, 2013 at 6:07 AM

updated May 01, 2013 at 7:34 AM

(Gallery by S.P. Sullivan/NJ.com)

RIDGEFIELD PARK — Al and Alice's story is like something out of the Springsteen canon: Two star-crossed lovers overcome the odds and make good, settling down and starting a family somewhere in the swamps of Jersey.

The pair of American bald eagles have made their home in a tall cluster of cottonwood trees overlooking Overpeck Creek in the Meadowlands. It's a great location, even in often expensive Bergen County — right on the water, easy access to Route 46 and the New Jersey Turnpike.

The only problem is that their tree sits on a state-designated toxic waste site that will soon be cleaned up and turned into a large-scale development. Fierce predators they may be, it turns out bald eagles don't know the first thing about real estate.

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By Eric Poole Calkins Media
Wednesday, May 1, 2013 1:00 am

FRANKLIN TWP. — Living in a relatively rural area, Jennifer Dziabiak has become accustomed to seeing wildlife around her home — rabbits here, the odd red-tailed hawk there.

But last year, she saw a bird that she could neither identify nor explain eating a rabbit in her yard. 

“I thought, ‘That’s not like any bird I’ve ever seen, and it’s huge,’” she said.

Before long, though, she figured it out. The bird dining in Dziabiak’s yard was a bald eagle. She found an eagle’s nest along the Connoquenessing Creek about a quarter-mile from her home in Franklin Township’s Frisco neighborhood. The nests are another step in the successful effort to repopulate the bald eagle — one of the nation’s most enduring symbols — in the region and throughout Pennsylvania.

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Chasing away any potential threats. (Taylor Ablett)

Did you know eagle moms play favourites?

A pair of four-week-old eaglets in a Cootes Paradise nest appear to be healthy and growing.

According to RBG Species at Risk Biologist Kathryn Harrison who does regular checks on the babies, they have survived their first month with flying colours.  Harrison says anything could happen in the first few months of life, making them the most critical.

“What can happen is, they'll have multiple young but they want to play the odds of getting the best offspring,” says Harrison. “If there's not a lot of food available then you might have the mother preferentially feeding one of them over the other.”

The babies were born just before Easter and are in a nest in a tree 30 meters up. If the babies can survive the first few weeks, life can still get tricky despite not having many predators.

Eaglet diet: fish mostly but also mice, muskrats and even a duck

“At issue would be the competition between the siblings or the limited amount of food,” says Harrison. “Which is not the case here, we should have a lot of fish coming into the fish way, and the marsh is a good place for food.”

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Brevard County News
UPDATED 6:01 PM EDT Apr 26, 2013 

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. —Two rare baby eagles survived a fall from the top of a tree, and two days of struggling on the ground before they were rescued.

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Trees at the Kennedy Space Center are favorite eagle nesting spots, but last month, the storm that brought hail and heavy wind knocked down a nest with two babies.

"I knew we made a good decision to go out and get them because they let us walk up and pick them up.  A wild bird is not going to let you do that," said wildlife ecologist Becky Bolt.

Bolt happened to go out on a survey of eagle nests two days after the storm. She found the nest, but by that time, the baby bald eagles were pretty far gone.

"They're so big, and their talons are like this, and they’re golden and their heads are big.  I'd never had that much contact with a wild eagle before," said Bolt. 

View Images HERE

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