Bald eagle breeding grounds grow in Arizona, but number of eggs dips

PHOENIX – Wildlife officials said this week that more breeding grounds for bald eagles in Arizona didn’t add up to more baby birds.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department said Monday raptor biologists counted 71 eagle nestlings this year, down from 87 hatched in 2018.

The yearly survey showed that the number of eggs laid had dropped from 102 to 97. The number of birds that made it to their first flight dropped, too, from 70 a year ago to 63 this year.

“While we always hope for Arizona’s bald eagle population to increase, it’s not uncommon for productivity to slow occasionally,” Kenneth Jacobson, bald eagle management coordinator, said in a statement at the department’s website.

But, he added, “Our ongoing efforts to help conserve and protect Arizona’s bald eagles appear to be working.”

The agency had set up a livestream of a pair of nesting bald eagles near Lake Pleasant in December. They pulled the feed in early April, after a female eagle destroyed an egg. She had laid four since January, and none had survived.

In a social media post, Game and Fish said that ended hopes for a hatching for at least another year.

The breeding season for bald eagles in Arizona runs from December through June.

The Arizona population has grown from 11 pairs in 1978 to an estimated 74 adult breeding pairs.

The birds are protected nationally by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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