A popular Connecticut hiking trail will be closed for the next few months because of a pair of nesting bald eagles.
Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced last week that the southern end of the popular Windsor Locks Canal State Park Trail will be closed through June 2015 to protect a pair of nesting bald eagles.
“Although bald eagle numbers are increasing in the state, the birds are still a state threatened species and need our protection,” said DEEP Deputy Commissioner Susan Whalen. “Because disturbance can cause the adult eagles to abandon their nest, causing the eggs or chicks to die, it is necessary to close the trail until the chicks can fly.”
This eagle pair is also starting the season off with a slight disadvantage. The nest they used for the past two years was rendered unusable by winter storms. “The birds have moved back to the nest site they used in 2011 and had to do some remodeling to make it suitable for nesting,” said Jenny Dickson, a DEEP Wildlife Division Biologist. These eagles first nested along the canal trail in 2011 and successfully fledged two chicks. Nesting attempts in 2012 and 2013 were unsuccessful. However, the pair successfully fledged one chick in 2014.
The Windsor Locks Canal State Park Trail is formed from a historic towpath built to bypass the Enfield rapids in the Connecticut River. The rapids provide a shallow area that is perfect for the bald eagles to find their preferred food of fish. It is not a surprise, then, that the eagles chose a nest site near a feeding area.
During the closure, visitors can still walk or bike the trail from the northern section for about two miles until they come to a gate and are instructed to turn around. The southern end of the trail will remain closed, unless if the nest fails or the young can fly before the end of June, then the trail will be opened earlier.
Once in decline due to the effects of pesticides, nesting bald eagles returned to Connecticut in 1993, after an absence of almost 50 years. The DEEP Wildlife Division has published a fact sheet on bald eagles, which is available on the DEEP website at http://www.ct.gov/deep/wildlife.