Bald Eagle Seen Nesting In Perth Amboy

PERTH AMBOY, NJ — Another bald eagle has been spotted along the Bayshore.

Raritan Riverkeeper Bill Schultz took this photo earlier this week of a bald eagle nesting along the Perth Amboy waterfront. There is a growing number of bald eagles spotted along the Raritan Bay waterfront and throughout the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. Here's where eagles have been spotted locally:

• A pair of bald eagles routinely nests in a tower near Natco Lake in Hazlet/Union Beach
• There's been a longtime male-female bald eagle pair at the Manasquan Reservoir
• There is a bald eagle nest in Cheesequake State Park
• Shultz has seen bald eagles along the Raritan River in Edison and New Brunswick

"It's because they stopped using DDT, which made their eggs break, and because all the heavily-polluting industry left Central New Jersey," said Schultz. "The rivers and bays of New Jersey are cleaner than they've been in decades, and bald eagles and osprey both eat fish that live in those waters."

New Jersey's bald eagle population has been steadily increasing, with 161 pairs of bald eagles spotted in 2015 in the state, according to the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. That's up from just one single nest in the early 1980s. Today's numbers are likely much higher than the 2015 count.

Bald eagles are extremely sensitive to humans, and if they detect you trying to approach their nest, even just to take pictures, they may abandon the nest. So stay away from any bald eagle nests you come across!

Photo credit: Bill Schultz, Raritan Riverkeeper