Tillamook Bay Declared "Most Patriotic Estuary"

ODFW staff out surveying estuaries along the coast for Bald eagle nests are declaring Tillamook Bay the Most Patriotic estuary leading up the 250th Celebration of the Declaration of Independence. Tillamook Bay has six active Bald eagle nests currently, more than any of the other 12 estuaries surveyed by staff. All the nests contain large chicks, with one nest supporting not one, not two, but three chicks, all apparently healthy and close to fledging.

A nest with three chicks is exceptional for the Oregon Coast and indicates the eagles have plenty of resources to raise their young. ODFW staff have monitored 122 eagle nests across the coast since 2017, and this is the first time anyone has seen a nest with three chicks this close to fledging.

Bald eagle populations plummeted in the early part of the 20th century leading to a ban on the use of the pesticide DDT and the listing of the Bald eagle under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1978 with only 487 nesting pairs of Bald eagles in the United States.

By 2007, there were 9,789 known nesting pairs in the contiguous U.S., and the Bald Eagle was removed from the federal ESA. In Oregon, just 65 breeding pairs were documented in 1978. By 2010, that number climbed to 570. Bald eagles were removed from the Oregon State threatened species list in 2012, and the bird that is the nation's symbol continues to thrive today.

Top Image -Photo by Charlotte Ganskopp-