Sea Island Life Magazine Spring/Summer 2014 | Page 34

The Great Seal of the United States
features a majestic eagle.

the island. According to Sea Island’s naturalist, Raleigh Nyenhuis, the nest itself measures
approximately 6 feet across and at least 4 feet
deep. The second nest is on the Ocean Forest
portion of the island in another tall pine tree
near the golf course. These birds of prey seem
at home on the island and, with each nest
producing between two and three young each
year, the hope is that additional bald eagles will
choose to stay in the area over time.

A National Emblem

Bald eagle nests, like the one pictured here at Sea Island, can span 6 feet across and 4 feet deep.

It’s believed the U.S. was home to as many as
100,000 bald eagles more than two centuries
ago, as the Second Continental Congress began
signing the Declaration of Independence in
1776. With so many monumental events happening at this time of the nation’s history, the
newly formed country was looking for strength
and salvation. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams
and Thomas Jefferson were part of the committhe United States of America, but only four of
of “E pluribus unum,” which is Latin for “Out of
many, one”; the Eye of Providence; the date of
independence; and a shield.

It was six years and two committees later
that Philadelphia lawyer William Barton
submitted the effortless drawing of an eagle
majestically displayed as the symbol of
supreme power and authority in May 1782.
In the next draft, Secretary of Congress
Charles Thompson replaced Barton’s crested
imperial eagle with the native American bald
eagle, a symbol that would endure. Congress
eagle holding a bundle of arrows in one talon
and an olive branch in the other was revealed
Although there have been many changes in
the U.S. during these past two centuries, and

BIRD LIST

Get those binoculars ready for an up-close look at the following birds often seen around the
Sea Island area.
BEACH BIRDS: brown pelicans, double-crested cormorants, great blue herons, Wilson’s plovers (mostly in summer), semipalmated plovers (mostly in winter), American oystercatchers,
willets, ruddy turnstones (mostly in winter), sanderlings (mostly in winter), least and western
sandpipers (mostly in winter), laughing gulls, ring-billed gulls (mostly in winter), herring gulls
(mostly in winter), caspian and royal terns (mostly in winter), black skimmers, fish crows and
common grackles
MARSHLAND BIRDS: vultures, great and snowy egrets, reddish egrets (mostly in the summer), tricolored herons, great blue herons, white ibis, wood storks, ospreys, bald eagles and
red-winged blackbirds

and message of strength remains the same. It
has been said that Franklin was unhappy with
the bald eagle’s selection because it scavenges
and steals the spoils from other birds—his
preference was a turkey. In contrast, President
Kennedy would later praise the Founding
Fathers for choosing a great bird aptly symbolizing the strength and freedom of America.

Conservation and Comeback
By the time of Kennedy’s presidential term in
the early 1960s, however, fewer than 500 nesting pairs of bald eagles remained, according
to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. While the
the mid- to late 1800s, as waterfowl and other
prey declined, other factors contributed to the
decrease in bald eagles after World War II. The
pesticide DDT made its way into waterways
eagles. The chemical prevented the birds from
producing strong eggshells, causing the eggs
to crack or never hatch. Lead poisoning was
another cause of death for bald eagles; some
ate waterfowl containing lead shot, either
from hunting or inadvertent ingestion.
The bald eagle, on the brink of extinction,

34 SEA ISL AND LIFE | SPRING/SUMMER 2014

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