Adaptable Bald Eagles, Ospreys and Peregrines

     The large and majestic bald eagles, ospreys and peregrine falcons have all greatly increased their numbers in the Middle Atlantic States, as elsewhere, in recent years.  They have all made an inspiring comeback.  That happened because of a ban on using DDT on fields in the United States, federal and state laws completely protecting these three magnificent raptors, the birds' tolerating human activities and their adjusting to human-made habitats and structures, particularly for nesting.
     But I think the most intriguing and, literally, concrete reason for their ballooning populations is their adapting to raising young on human-made structures.  Several pairs of bald eagles, for example, build huge nurseries of sticks and twigs on power towers, mostly near larger waterways and built impoundments where they catch live fish and scavenge dead ones.  Other pairs of eagles make cradles in large trees near water in farmland, a new environment for them.  I think a reason why they nest in cropland is because they scavenge a lot of dead chickens and other farm animals there through the year.  Today, more than 250 pairs of bald eagles nest in Pennsylvania alone.
     Today, most pairs of ospreys build large stick cradles on human-made objects, including power towers, buoys in rivers and bays, bridges, and platforms erected in large bodies of water especially for ospreys to nest on.  Ospreys also snare live fish in their clawed feet by diving from the air and plunging into the water.  And they tolerate the presence of human activities well, such as at St. Michaels on the Miles River off the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, and Stone Harbor, New Jersey.
     There are about 150 nesting pairs of ospreys in five clusters in Pennsylvania.  Clusters of these stately, fish-catching, nesting hawks include along the Lower Susquehanna River, the upper Susquehanna River, the Upper Delaware River, the Lower Delaware River and the Upper Ohio River.
     Many pairs of peregrine falcons today rear offspring on tall buildings in cities in the Mid-Atlantic States, as elsewhere, including in Philadelphia, Allentown and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware, and under river bridges at Philadelphia and in Lancaster County, for a few examples.  The handsome and solid-bodied peregrines are stream-lined for diving from high in the sky on pigeons, starlings, gulls, ducks and other kinds of birds to kill them for food.
     All protected fully by law, these large, diurnal raptors of great beauty and intrigue are also adaptable, making use of human-made habitats and structures to live and reproduce.  And through our laws and their adjustments to human activities, they have increased their populations greatly and we get to enjoy their magnificent presence, even in farmland and cities, and around constructed reservoirs.  It's a win-win situation for them and us.