THE MIAMI STUDENT
TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 2010 ♦ 5
Bald eagles repopulate Ohio region, overcome endangered status By Jenna Yates For The Miami Student
As our national emblem, their majestic presence symbolizes unlimited freedom as they sweep through valleys and soar up into boundless heights. Not only are they prevalent on American coins and seals, but they are increasingly growing rampant in American skies. Bald eagles are making a comeback, especially in the Ohio region. About three years ago, Bill Hoggard, a student birdwatcher, spotted some bald eagles at a state forest located in central Ohio. “About three years ago, I was going down Brush Creek and saw six bald eagles along with three nests,” Hoggard said. According to Erin Gray, a zookeeper at the Cincinnati Zoo, bald eagle sightings have been increasingly more common over the past few years. She has been working at the Cincinnati Zoo since 2008 and throughout the time she has been working there at least 30 more eagles have been banded. According to David Russell, a Miami University lecturer and bird bander, bird banding is a way of keeping track of birds.
“Banding is when you basically assign a so- According to Russell, bald eagles nest at Brookville Lake, located about 30 miles cial security number to birds,” Russell said. The eagles have a lightweight band with northwest of Cincinnati. “There is at least one nest at Brookville,” a nine-digit code. Every individual eagle Russell said. is assigned a specific number so the bandThis nest iners can take data associated cludes a female that with them. Because of bird banders track. banding, bird experts can In 2006, her nest coltake measures to help the lapsed during a storm. With birds prevail. the help of Russell and other “They are off the bird experts, an artificial endangered list,” Gray said. nest was built so the eagle According to Gray, could survive. bald eagles have been “Right now, she’s sitting on off this list for quite ERIN GRAY eggs,” Russell said. some time. ZOOKEEPER Russell said in the 1970s, Eagles can be found in THE CINCINNATI ZOO small concentrations throughthis might not have been out the United States, particuso common. larly near bodies of water. In “(Around) 30 years ago, we Ohio, the bald eagle is most widespread in the had a lot of DDT, organic chlorines and insecmarsh region of western Lake Erie. ticides,” Russell said. “Ohio is the perfect area because there are a According to Russell, these chemicals lot of valleys and a lot of water,” Gray said. have long residual effects and the chemicals According to Gray, marsh bodies of water began to accumulate in the environment, are perfect for eagles to care for their young. affecting wildlife. In fact, there is a bald eagle that can be As a result of their accumulation, small spotted within close proximity to Oxford. insects would begin to consume these
“Ohio is the perfect area because there are a lot of valleys and a lot of water.”
SunCoke Energy breaks ground After many delays, construction recently began for SunCoke Energy in Middletown to produce 550,000 tons of blast furnace coke, according to the company’s profile. SunCoke was scheduled to start construction nearly 18 months ago, but complaints about the permit process caused a major setback, said Gary Corbin, executive secretary and treasurer for the Butler County Building and Construction Trades Council. “Complaints about the EPA project permit caused the delay,” Corbin said. “A little has been done so far. It has been a long time coming.” Corbin said April 12 is the official start date. Employment at the plant will be high to complete the project within the expected time frame. “We are looking at about 500 workers and somewhere between 15 to 18 months to complete the plant,” Corbin said. “Finding workers should not be difficult.” Suncoke has signed a contract with AK Steel to purchase coke. According to the company’s Web site, http://www.aksteel.com, AK Steel is “a full-line domestic producer of energy efficient electrical steels for power generation.” “The contract is set for 20 years,” Corbin said. “This will be very beneficial.” Reporting by Jillian Dickman
chemicals and would be passed up the food chain. Ultimately, the chemicals in the environment affected the organisms at the top of the food chain, such as bald eagles. In essence, when smaller organisms get eaten by something else, the predator acquires all the pray had acquired. Because bald eagles were consuming hazardous chemicals, it significantly affected their breeding. “One of the first symptoms was that it would affect the pathway that would allow calcium to be put on the eggs,” Russell said. When a female would go to lay an egg, it would crush. Therefore, when the adults died out, there were no more youngsters coming through and, as a result, bald eagles were suddenly becoming extinct. “When you reached the maximum life expectancy, suddenly they were gone,” Rusell said. This is no longer the case. Bald eagle populations are significantly increasing. According to Gray, people should keep their eye out for bald eagles because they are more common than one may think. “A lot of people might see immature bald eagles and not even realize it because they look so similar to golden eagles,” Gray said.
Shooting at sundown
SAMANTHA LUDINGTON The Miami Student
First-year Brett Freiberg and senior James Gabbard work on their COM 211 project Monday evening in Uptown Park.