By Jim McGuire, Daily Gazette, link to original article
The Northville area, situated on the Great Sacandaga Lake where the Sacandaga River winds out of the southern Adirondacks, has a lot going for it already.
But for at least the past six years it has had a new winter attraction. Bald eagles, many of them migrating from Canada during the cold months, have adopted the river valley from Northville to Wells as a winter home.
Bird photographer Warren Greene of Gloversville spends his free time chasing other species but has ventured to the Sacandaga to check out the growing number of eagles gathering there. Greene said he became aware of the wintering eagles about six years ago and assumes that this group spread from the larger group wintering for more than a decade at the Conklingville Dam, at the other end of the 29-mile-long lake.
A best bet for observing, Greene said, is a pull-over about two miles north on River Road in the town of Hope. Often, he said, a pair of eagles stands vigil in a large tree along the river, across from the parking area. The eagles survive the winter dining on the carcasses of deer killed in car accidents along Route 30, Greene said.
Fulton County Clerk William Eschler, a Northville native, said he spotted three mature eagles on New Year’s Day not far from that same parking area. An eagle flew right over Eschler’s truck.
“I thought a fighter plane was going over,” he said, remarking on its size. As he watched it, he said, it flew to a perch along the river, where he soon noticed two others roosted.
Eschler said the birds are becoming a tourist attraction. “There are people driving up there all the time,” he said.
Gary Hill, the naturalist at Moreau Lake State Park, leads an eagle survey most Thursdays. The public is invited to outings at 10 a.m. Jan. 8, 9 a.m. Jan. 15 and 9:30 a.m. Jan. 17. Participants meet at the park office and then drive to six locations along the upper Hudson River near the park. There is a $2 fee; seniors pay $1.
“You never know what you’re going to see,” Hill said.
On a recent outing, he said, no eagles made an appearance until the last stop. He said that he and David Alfred, the park’s assistant environmental educator, spotted a raven out on the river ice feeding on a deer carcass. A second raven soon arrived, and then suddenly an eagle landed between them.
Dinner was interrupted for that trio, Hill said, when first one coyote ran onto the ice and then another. Hill said the coyotes were probably responsible for chasing down the deer.
Before retiring from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Hill said, he was part of a DEC crew that netted an eagle by the Conklingville Dam. The immature bird was fitted with a radio collar and tracked that winter and in several subsequent winters as it traveled back and forth along the Hudson and Sacandaga from Conklingville to Troy.
The young eagle hailed from Newfoundland, it was discovered. The collar battery eventually died and the eagle fell off of the radar.
At Conklingville, Hill said, it was not uncommon to observe eight eagles in one visit. The birds roosted below the dam, he said, where the water remains open all winter.
DEC spokeswoman Maureen Wren said 22 eagles were observed in last winter’s survey of the upper Hudson region, compared to 10 in 2007. The 22 wintering here last year included 14 adults and eight immature birds, she said.
DEC is currently conducting its 2009 survey, and she said the department welcomes any information the public can provide.
June 16, 2011, I was out for a boat ride on Great Sacandaga Lake and spotted an eagle – North end of Scout Island, Mayfield. The wing span was enormous, caught my attention and startled me at the same time. I had the pleasure of gazing at him for 40 minutes until he flew away. Scout Island was the nesting location Summer 2010, hopefully that will be true in 2011.