ODOT officials kept eagle eye on nest

The Ohio Department of Transportation didn't just have to think about motorists when replacing the bridge on U.S. 68 at Ohio 15 south of Findlay. Workers also had to, throughout construction, keep an eye on a bald eagle nest at the site. "An eagle pair built a nest in the infield, near the Eagle Creek at the location of Ohio's first roadside park, in approximately 2013," wrote ODOT public information officer Cheri Newton in an article for an internal publication, shared with The Courier. "According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), they have returned to raise young there every year but one. The nesting pair are well known in the region. Along the northbound entrance ramp, there is a spot where it is common to see people pulled over to bird watch. They even have their own Facebook page, The Eagle Creek Bald Eagles." The challenge for ODOT was that bald eagles and their nests are protected under federal law — and the bridge project is only about 200 yards from the nest. So, ODOT's District 1 environmental team had to get permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to proceed with the project. "ODOT looked into restoring the bridge outside of nesting season, but that would result in prolonged road closures (two seasons) and increase the construction costs," district environmental coordinator Nate Tessler told Newton. The Fish and Wildlife Service allowed ODOT to proceed with the project, but required daily observation of the eagles for any signs of stress, Newton wrote. "If the eagles became agitated, then construction activities would have to cease until USFWS made a decision on how to proceed," Tessler told her. But "the extra hub-bub did not appear to disturb the birds," she wrote. "The pair returned in late winter and began to fix up their nest." On April 8, while conducting an eagle census across Ohio via helicopter, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources confirmed that the pair were incubating on the nest. Glen Oldfield first spotted an eaglet in the nest on May 6. Soon, he was regularly counting four eagles at the nest — one parent and three offspring — while the other parent was off hunting, Newton wrote. "Bald eagles most commonly lay two eggs," she wrote. "Raising triplets is a feat that occurs approximately 15% of the time in our region." Oldfield told her, "They have been fun to watch. We have seen them fly snakes and other food up to the nest. Sometimes they fly right over us on the bridge." The last time he saw the eagles on the nest was June 26, when he only counted two eaglets. By the following Monday, the trio had fledged and were no longer seen at the site. The ODNR census counted 707 confirmed active bald eagle nests, as compared to 158 in 2007, and seven in 1973, Newton wrote. The U.S. 68 bridge reopened Tuesday. Work at the bridge will continue until early in September.