A lot of traffic this year, more than any other year.

Posted by Rockitglider on
URL: http://bald-eagles-of-broward-county-florida.17.s1.nabble.com/A-lot-of-traffic-this-year-more-than-any-other-year-tp7575975.html

So I try to educate people as much as possible and sometimes people, or I should say some people don't care or don't want to be told by someone they don't know what to do. People are getting closer and closer to the nest and the fist thing I try to tell them is the distances (330 FEET) recommended by the Audubon and wildlife protection acts. So it is both unethical and illegal to disturb bald eagles. Some cases or locations are different or have exceptions by they way the eagles chose where they made their nests, and the Deerfield nest is one of those with a special rule because of the parks bike trail, but this is not an excuse to break the distance rule claiming that the eagles are used to the traffic and activity.

    So I decided to measure the nest location in reference to the road (10th street) and the No Trespassing signs that the DOT has posted in the field where everyone pulls off the road to view the nesting activity. I decided to do this after a guy challenged me today saying that there was no way those signs were 300 feet from the nest, him and 2 others had setup tripods half of the distance from the No Trespassing signs to the nest, and the adult flew in with food and didn't take it to the chicks so I told them they might be too close because I have never seen this unusual activity from the adults with food, they usually take it to the nest, and weather this is normal or not they were too close at less than 200 feet from the nest. So it turns out he was right about the distance, I was wrong, the signs are not 300 feet from the nest they are only 250 feet and 330 feet would put you in the roadway and obviously we can't do that. I'm just trying to say that we need to be more careful with the chicks at this time because they could easily fall out of the nest causing them to fledge too early. Please try to let people know what the distances are and that getting too close can cause harm to the eagles. Most people don't have a problem with this and I get into some great conversations with people about the eagles and I think they like to hear about them, so I direct them to this site to see the pictures and read about the eagles. The distance was measured with a wheel measuring device that I use to do architectural drawings of buildings so I know it is accurate down to the inch. Have fun and lets help the eagles have some privacy if possible.