In NYC’s Watershed, Bald Eagles Thrive
It was a cold January day. Though the air was crisp, the sun was shining brightly and all throughout the watershed, 77 bald eagles were spotted.
The eagle count was part of the 2019 National Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey, which monitors the status of the eagles’ wintering populations. Bald eagles main food source is fish, so they need to live near a constant source of water. Our 19 reservoirs and 3 controlled lakes provide a perfect habitat for both the nesting and the wintering birds, offering fish-filled open water, and quiet, undeveloped places to build a nest.
On January 11, the surveyors counted 29 birds spread along Cannonsville Reservoir, and on February 22, when the entire region was iced over, 70 eagles were spotted around the Cannonsville release.
We handle the eagle count from land and from the sky. While Kensico and Schoharie reservoirs are surveyed from the ground, Water Supply biologists team up with the DEP Police for a daylong helicopter flyover from New Croton Reservoir north and then west to the tip of Cannonsville Reservoir.
