DEVELOPMENT OF BAY MAY THREATEN EAGLES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 3, 1993                   TAG: 9301030126
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO   
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WOODBRIDGE                                LENGTH: Short
DEVELOPMENT OF BAY MAY THREATEN EAGLES
Bald eagles have been soaring over the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay in record numbers this year, but the long-range outlook for eagles in the area doesn't look good, an eagle expert says.
"The problem is that people want to live around the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers in just the areas that eagles like," said Mitchell Byrd, a retired College of William and Mary professor. Eagles often abandon their nests when disturbed.
Intensive development is expected along the Potomac in Northern Virginia during the next 20 years, with the population predicted to grow by at least 2.6 million.
Virginia has 131 active eagle nests, compared to 33 nests in 1977, when eagles were still suffering from the widespread agricultural use of the insecticide DDT, Byrd said. DDT, which was banned in the United States in 1972, weakened birds' eggshells.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB