If Rover Can Make It Here, Perhaps Bald Eagles Can Make It Anywhere
The New York Times
A white-headed raptor has been preying on smaller birds in Central Park. It’s come a long way since conservationists affixed aluminum bands to its legs four years ago.
Visitors to Central Park’s reservoir in New York are taking in a drama filled with feathers. Its star performer, thrilling parkgoers and terrorizing gulls, is Rover, a bald eagle.
The city’s birders have been tracking Rover for two years, and some point to his ongoing story as demonstrating the conservation benefits of attaching aluminum bands to the legs of threatened bird species when they are young. Rover’s arrival in the five boroughs also adds to mounting evidence of a return to urban areas by birds of prey. If Rover can make a home in and around Central Park, perhaps even more eagles will fill the city’s skies in the years ahead.
Rover’s story begins in New Haven, Conn. In 2016, the town’s birders were surprised to see a pair of bald eagles set up a nest near a busy intersection. The male wore a band around his leg reading “P2,” while the female was unbanded. Birders christened the pair Walter and Rachel — W and R after the West River, which flows through the city, said Martin Torresquintero, the outdoor adventure coordinator for the city’s government.
