On a gray Thursday morning, predictions of a snowstorm keeping me near the window, a glimmer of wingspan caught the corner of my eye. A hawk hovering over the small wetlands behind our backyard?
No. I opened the slider in time to see two majestic bald eagles descend onto the edge of the pond. A flurry of gasps, “wows” and iPhone clicks prompted my husband, working upstairs, to run to the window and shout, “Eagles!”
For two hours, we watched in awe.
Later, I posted and texted everyone I knew. Turns out, suburban sightings of eagles are not uncommon. Not anymore.
Eagles are everywhere. Even here on the southern edge of Cook County. And what a success story that is.
But the story doesn’t end there. Our work is far from done.
It’s great that the eagle has made a comeback. It’s great that Americans cared enough about it — and the peregrine falcon and the timber wolf and the Blanding’s turtle — to not only hope for their survival but to insist on it.
Now, however, we need to turn our attention to maintaining those populations, and to helping the many other species that are vital to the ecosystem that enables the eagles to soar.
When Chris Anchor started working for the Forest Preserves of Cook County back in the ’80s, he fully expected to see many species disappear over his tenure. That’s the trajectory nature Northern Illinois was on back then.
But, he said, thanks to the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, many of the animals destined to disappear are now thriving.
“The bald eagle is an incredible success story,” said Anchor, wildlife biologist with Cook County forest preserves.
Along with ospreys and falcons, the eagle had been horribly decimated by the effects of DDT, a pesticide that caused the birds to lay eggs with such thin shells that they’d easily break, he said.
It had gotten to the point that there were no eagle nests in Illinois, he said. Today, there are 1,100 to 1,200 in the state and at least six active nests in Cook County, he said.
“As a child in the ’60s in Wisconsin, I remember my parents and grandparents stopping the car and everyone getting out because someone spotted a bald eagle. It was a big deal, an event,” Anchor said. “Now they’re like pigeons.
“And what a wonderful, wonderful thing. How often do we have government programs that actually work the way they’re supposed to work?” he said.
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Indeed, ubiquitous eagle sightings are something to celebrate. But there’s more to this story. And much of it is not majestic.
In mid-February, the Willowbrook Wildlife Center, part of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, successfully released a bald eagle back into the wild after treating it for rodent poisoning.
Like lead poisoning, which can occur in animals that ingest prey riddled with gunshot pellets or discarded fishing equipment, rodenticides are threatening the very species we worked so hard to revive, said Sarah Reich, head veterinarian and manager of rehabilitation and research at the center.
Reich said the sickened eagle was captured Jan. 1 by members of the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors after residents spied it sitting in a snow bank for hours.
“The first thing we noticed was a large amount of dried blood all over its underside,” Reich said.
A check of red blood cells and clotting times revealed the eagle was suffering the effects of anticoagulant poisoning, likely caused from ingesting prey that had eaten poisoned bait, she said. In short, it was bleeding to death.
“With any rodenticide there are primary species (the target) and secondary species (animals that eat the target). This is a case of secondary poisoning,” she said. “This eagle ate a mouse, rat or squirrel.”
A lot of the poisons meant to destroy rodents are compounded in the body and actually get worse the higher up the food chain they go, Reich said. “They almost become more toxic to the next animal in line.”
Poisoning is “a very large problem,” she said. “We see quite a few cases of it and we’re just seeing those few that survive. There are probably thousands that die from secondary poisoning that we never see.”
The facility also recently released an Arctic snowy owl that had been wintering in the Chicago area and suffered the same fate as the eagle.
Located in Glen Ellyn, Willowbrook is Illinois’ largest wildlife center and one of only a handful of government-run facilities across the country. Last year, it treated more than 11,500 animals, including hummingbirds, muskrats and reptiles.
The center also helps animals that are lesser known and lesser photogenic but equally essential to the ecosystem.
For certain species, such as eagles, falcons and turtles, Reich said, the local environment is doing well.
“Charismatic species are doing well. They’re fun, exciting, cool to look at, they evoke a strong emotional connection,” she said.
“Everyone loves a bald eagle. But we’re missing out on saving the thousands of other species that need help,” she said.
Case in point: the Hine’s emerald dragonfly. Mosquito eater, fish food and overall indicator of how the environment is doing, the dragonfly, which sports a gemstone-like head, is endangered in this area.
The center is working with the Natural Resources Department to propagate the devil crayfish because the Hine’s emerald dragonfly makes its nest in the crayfish’s burrows.
But scientists can’t do it alone. They need help from the public. They need help from you and me.
What can we do? Here’s a start, Reich said:
* See the big picture. Many small mammals, reptiles and insects are just as vital to the environment as the eagle.
* Instead of poisoning rodents, try exclusionary methods. Find how the critters are getting in and block access.
* Use lethal methods, such as snap or electric traps, only if necessary and only inside a household.
* Clean up your mess. Gunshot pellets and a lot of fishing equipment are made with lead. That can have a devastating effect on the food chain. Animals killed with pellets and left to rot are often eaten by other animals. Fish often swallow discarded sinkers.
* Recycle and use recycled products.
* Harvest rainwater.
* Compost.
And, last but certainly not least, keep your distance. Anchor said sometimes the public threatens to “love an animal to death.”
Owls, he said, are supposed to sleep all day.
“But there are so many people trying to get pictures of them that they’re being chased from tree to tree. They can’t sleep,” he said. “It’s incredibly disruptive to the birds and eats away at their fat reserves.
“February and March are when animals typically die of starvation so we have to love these things but at a distance,” he said. “If you’re altering the animal’s behavior, you’re probably too close.”
Reich said a silver lining of the pandemic was that it gave many people a chance to get outside and develop a greater appreciation for nature.
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“Expand that love to include all of nature,” she said.
Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years.