CCB | VaEagles home

Welcome to the VaEagles website. This site is focused on the bald eagle population that breeds in Virginia. The Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) has been the lead conservation organization working toward restoration and management of the bald eagle in Virginia. Working with a host of partners, CCB biologists have conducted dozens of research projects designed to answer questions that are vital to the long-term maintenance of eagles and their habitat within the Chesapeake Bay region. Since the late 1970s, Virginia's breeding population has made a dramatic recovery from less than 30 to more than 730 breeding pairs. We hope that providing information to the public will help to raise awareness about and concern for this vulnerable population.

Breeding eagles have been surveyed annually in the lower Chesapeake Bay since 1956. The 2011 survey represents the 56th consecutive survey. Each year CCB biologists fly a nest survey in February and March to map eagle nests and to determine their activity status. This survey is followed in late April and May by a productivity survey where chicks are counted in each nest. The survey covers all tributaries of the lower Chesapeake, as well as, other prominent bodies of water and requires more than 100 hours of flight time in a high-wing Cessna. Biologists survey all known nest structures to determine their activity status and search for newly established nests. During the 2011 breeding season, CCB surveyed more than 1000 nest structures and documented more than 730 breeding pairs that produced more than 980 chicks.

Bald eagles in Virginia have experienced a dramatic recovery from a low of 30 breeding pairs in the early 1970s to more than 730 pairs in 2011. Recovery within the state includes (1) an increase in the number of breeding territories, (2) an increase in reproductive rate, and (3) an expansion in geographic distribution. The Virginia population has now exceeded the recovery goal for the entire Chesapeake Bay. The population has also exceeded the target reproductive rate in every year except one since 1984. However, habitat goals outlined in the Chesapeake Bay recovery plan have not been met and habitat continues to be threatened by human disturbance and development.

The Chesapeake Bay is an area of convergence for post-nesting and subadult bald eagles from breeding populations in the Southeast and Northeast. In late spring and early summer, eagles migrate north from Florida and other southeastern states to spend the summer months in the Bay. In the late fall, eagles migrate south from New England populations to spend the winter months on the tributaries of the Bay. The convergence of three geographically distinct populations (northeast, southeast, and Chesapeake Bay) suggests that the Bay plays a particularly important role in the recovery of bald eagles in eastern North America.

The Center for Conservation Biology has produced numerous publications about bald eagles in the mid-atlantic region.

List of eagle publications>>

The Center for Conservation Biology is grateful to the many public and private organizations and individuals that have contributed to the conservation of bald eagles in Virginia.

List of partners >>

For the first time in the history of the Annual Bald Eagle Survey, in 2009, the locations of known nests in Virginia were made available online. The results of Virginia's Annual Bald Eagle Survey are being made available in the hope that the public will become more actively involved in the conservation of this species throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. Nests presented here are those that have been documented by CCB to be active in 2011 or that continue to be protected under state or federal guidelines. Note that under the law, undocumented nests receive the same level of protection as those presented here.

Enter the VaEagles Nest Locator >>

Browse more photos from CCB's bald eagle research >>

If you cannot see images above,

The Center for Conservation Biology is currently conducting one of the largest eagle tracking projects in the world. The study is designed to record eagle movements throughout the Chesapeake Bay and beyond in an effort to understand how eagles use the landscape and how they relate to humans. Over the past 2 years, CCB has deployed transmitters on 70 bald eagles and 3 golden eagles. Units have been deployed on birds from a number of age classes including nearly 20 nestlings. To date, transmitters have recorded more than 500,000 GPS locations and are beginning to reveal patterns of movement within the Bay, as well as, in and out of the Bay. In the long term, information gained from these birds will help us to better manage the species throughout eastern North America.

Visit EagleTrak site & blog >>

See maps of eagles tracked by CCB >>

Report bald eagle band sightings >>

The Center for Conservation Biology monitors the eagle nest at the Norfolk Botanical Garden (NBG) with a nest camera sponsored by VDGIF, WVEC, NBG, and CCB. The live webcast of the nest is online at WVEC's website for public viewing. In January 2010, CCB created a blog to assist the public with interpretation of eagle nesting behavior at NBG. The blog is written by CCB Research Associate, Reese Lukei, Jr.

Visit CCB's Eagle Nest blog >>



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