The Dakotan:
This is Outdoor Issues with Neil Roberts and North Dakota Game and Fish outreach biologist Greg Gullickson.
Neil Roberts:
One of the most beautiful sights Greg is seeing a bald eagle in flight. Now your department tries to track nest of bald eagles and breeding populations. Tell us what this the nest look like. Exactly.
Greg Gullickson:
Neil, it's almost the size of a Volkswagen. It's hard to miss a bald eagle nest in a tree. They are huge. And right now they're laying eggs and they're going to hatch sometime in mid-April. And there is almost 350 active bald eagle nests in North Dakota, and they're in 47 of the 53 counties that we have in the state. Generally, eagles have been nesting along the Missouri River and in other places where it's a river corridor. But that's not the case. There's a lot of eagles that are nesting in pastures and fields or anywhere, or food sources nearby. Even some of the shelter belts that I've noticed close to home, they're actually taking up that as habitat. So it's good to see the bald eagle making a comeback in North Dakota.
Neil Roberts:
Good stuff, Greg. And he will have more on bald eagles when we come back.
The Dakotan:
You're listening to Outdoor Issues with Neil Roberts on the Dakotan.
Neil Roberts:
Talking bald eagles today. And Greg Trip to Alaska a few years back. We saw a lot of them in North Dakota. I guess it's a rare sighting for me. I did see one last week on our way to the Twin Cities on the Minnesota side. And I was traveling with some students, so that was neat. When's the last time you spotted one?
Greg Gullickson:
You know, it was just the other day just traveling in central North Dakota. It's amazing how these eagles will find that nest and keep reusing it every year. We see a lot of eagles that are going back and forth, you know, especially following that migration of snow geese. If you happen to spot an eagle nest, report online game, fish farm and website.
Neil Roberts:
Good stuff, Greg. Thanks for that. That'll do it for this one. If you missed one, check us on the website, outdoorsissues.com. Until Next time, I'm Neil Roberts.
The Dakotan:
You're listening to the Dakotan Network. Real, Honest, Local News.
