BALD AND BOLD:

For the second time in the past month, a healthy bald eagle
chick hatched on Santa Cruz Island last week. Until this spring’s
baby boom, it had been more than 50 years since bald eagles
successfully hatched babies without human aid on the Channel
Islands. Last week’s hatching was doubly remarkable because it
occurred in a ground nest, making it the second known instance in
the country in which bald eagles nested on the ground rather than
in the trees or on cliffs. According to park officials, the baby
and its parents will be monitored closely in the coming weeks, with
the baby bird scheduled to get tagged with a satellite transmitter
shortly before it begins to fly in approximately two months. The
nest was discovered by the Montrose Settlements Restoration
Program, a multi-agency group committed to helping the bald eagle
population reestablish itself in the face of severe DDT poisonings
in the mid 20th century.