On June 2 , a dead bald bird of Jove was discovered along a road in Henrietta , Monroe County , New York . It had just kill a rabbit when it was apparently hit by a car . Collisions like these make closely a third of known eagle deaths in the land . consort to the band on the male person ’s stage , he was 38 years old , and he now oblige the country ’s phonograph record for the oldest bald eagle ever encountered , theNew York State Department of Environmental Conservationannounced in astatementthis week . It broke the previous longevity record by five years .
This eagle , state officials say , is a testament to the conservation and restoration employment done under theBald Eagle Restoration Project . The program was initiated in 1976 to reestablish a breed universe following the home DDT banning in 1972 and the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 , which prohibited killing barefaced eagle .
In just over a dozen years , a sum of 198 nestling denuded eagles were compile from other states , raised with minimum human contact ( called hacking ) , and released in New York . When the wildly successful hacking program terminate in 1988 , it had pass by its goal of 10 nest pairs . There are 350 pairs in New York today . Until the curriculum , the Department of State was home to one , unproductive bald eagle nest on Hemlock Lake , and sadly , the male from that last aboriginal pair was shot in 1980 .
This new record - setting eagle was one of five untested eagles upgrade and let go of at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge during the program ’s 2d year . He was brought over as a kid from Lake Puposky in northerly Minnesota , and he was ring as 03142 when he was a few calendar month old in Seneca Falls on August 5 , 1977 . When he reach bringing up long time in 1981 , he began nesting at Hemlock Lake , part of the Hemlock - Canadice State Forest . He went on to become a unshakable and successful father to many eaglets .
When 03142 was banded nearly four decades ago , the team “ had no mind how very special and significant this untried barefaced bird of Jove would become to our nascent bald eagle regaining political platform , ” retired state wildlife life scientist Peter Nye recall in astatement . “ found on his recent recovery near this web site , we have to assume he has been the resident male person , breed here for the past 34 days . That ’s quite a stretching , and belike a record in itself . ”
Nye bring : “ His longevity , 38 geezerhood , although ingloriously cut short by a motor fomite , is also a national record for known lifespan of a wild bald eagle . All I can say is , hats off too you 03142 ; line well done ! "
Images : shutterstock.com ( top),Pete Nye(middle )
