CCB | VaEagles Nest Locator

Welcome to the VaEagles Nest Locator! The Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) has created this Google Maps application to allow users to locate CCB-documented eagle territories and to view their mapped locations on a county by county basis. If you are a new user, please register.

Bald Eagles are sensitive to human disturbance. Since the 1970s nest sites have been managed using a combination of spatial buffers and time-of-year restrictions. Human activities that are considered to be detrimental to breeding pairs (e.g. residential, commercial, and industrial development, logging, use of toxic chemicals) are restricted within a “primary buffer” and human activities that are considered to impact the integrity of the primary buffer (e.g. construction of high-density developments, multi-story buildings, new roadways) are restricted within a “secondary buffer”. Time-of-year restrictions are used to limit direct human activities (e.g. recreational activities, logging, mineral exploration, low-level aircraft operations) within buffer areas that may disturb eagles during sensitive periods of the nesting cycle.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) has legal jurisdiction over issues relating to bald eagle protection. The VDGIF, through its environmental services section, reviews proposed projects from government agencies and private individuals to identify possible impacts. Such reviews are encouraged and usually result in a considerable savings in time and money to the landowner. The two agencies listed here are the lead agencies for bald eagle reviews and recommendations in Virginia.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
P.O. Box 11104
Richmond, Virginia 23230-1104
(804) 367-8999

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Virginia Field Office
6669 Short Lane
Gloucester, Virginia 23061
(804) 693-6694

Our intentions are to make our data as freely available as possible. CCB encourages the use of our data sets, but as a professional courtesy we ask that data users read and agree to the terms of our Data Use Agreement.

Before logging-in, new users must REGISTER for VaEagles Nest Locator.

* For VaEagles login to work, you must set your internet browser to accept cookies & enable javascript.

** If you continue to get an error page when you try to log in, CLICK HERE to refresh the Nest Locator login page and adjust any previously-saved bookmarks accordingly.

Report Eagle Nests

Despite our best efforts, an unknown number of eagle nests go unrecorded each year. This is particularly true in the Piedmont and mountains of Virginia where there is no survey effort. We believe that the public knows of many nests that are unknown to us. All nests known to CCB are presented in the nest locator. Please view nests in your local area and report nests known to you that do not appear. Thanks for your help!

Specific instructions on how to report new nests >>

The data contained in the VaEagles Nest Locator comes directly from Virginia's annual bald eagle survey. Breeding eagles have been surveyed annually in the lower Chesapeake Bay since 1956. The 2009 survey represents the 54th 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 2009 breeding season, CCB surveyed more than 900 nest structures and documented more than 610 breeding pairs that produced more than 820 chicks.



		Nest Locator