Nesting pair of eagles on constructed nesting platform.

Bald Eagles were once quite common in southern Ontario. In the early 1900s, an estimated 200 pairs nested from the Ottawa River to the lower Great Lakes. A combination of human disturbance and pollution of the Great Lakes led to a dramatic reduction in nesting pairs in the 1970s. From the early 1980s, coincident with a significant reduction in the use of toxic chemicals around the Great Lakes, the eagles' natural reproduction rates began to climb. Concurrently, private organizations and government agencies developed conservation programs to protect nesting sites and to re-establish adequate breeding populations. Volunteers and landowners provided critical assistance to these programs over subsequent years, primarily by monitoring nest sites to determine their level of activity and reproductive status. Today, while Bald Eagles have recovered in most regions they have been slow to return to some historic nesting locations, such as Charleston and Gananoque Lakes. In Ontario the Bald Eagle remains a provincially threatened species south of the French/Mattawa Rivers.

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LGSC Councillors have been actively installing nesting platforms in to encourage bald eagles to return to their traditional nesting grounds. Since 2007 we have installed platforms in supercanopy white pine trees on Red Horse, Gananoque, Charleston (2 platforms) and Lower Beverley Lakes and two on the St Lawrence River near Landon Bay and Davis Island.

Although none of the nesting platforms are being used by Bald Eagles, a pair was attracted to the region and  established a nest on Upper Beverly Lake. Great Horned Owls and Ospreys are making successful use of the other platforms for the moment.
 

LGSC members, volunteers and Hydro One crew members after installing a Eagle nest in a tree.