New nests were found back in 1991 and they were the first to be found in Gloucester County since the widespread use of the pesticide dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, or DDT, which decimated New Jersey’s bald eagle population.

We went from having no nests to having five or six nests here in Gloucester County and probably more that we don’t know about. Last January, DEP staff and volunteers counted a record high of 264 bald eagles, 221 of them in South Jersey. Camden County included

NJ gained five bald eagle pairs and seven new nests were found in 2008, according to a report released in December. Fifty of the 69 nests in New Jersey produced a total of 85 eaglets. Most nests are located around the Delaware River and Delaware Bay, but with the population on the rise, more bald eagles are settling further north, in the tri-county area.

All known nest sites are monitored from January through July, when bald eagles begin building nests and laying eggs. Using binoculars and spotting scopes, volunteer observers keep an eye on the nests from a distance of 1,000 feet. Everything is logged — the number of birds, courtship and nesting behaviors, incubation and feeding. At select nests, biologists band the eaglets and collect blood samples for contaminant analysis when they are five to eight weeks old.

Typically, nests are used over generations of birds. Nests can be hard to find as they tend to be in hard to find places. There are a couple of nests that can be observed only by airplane.

Its an amazing feat that these birds have come back after we nearly destroyed them. Keep your eyes open and look around, you may just catch a glimse of this majestic bird in your own backyard.