Route 1 Millstone River Bridge Replacement

The project is located (pdf 1.9m) on Route 1 at the Millstone River between milepost 11.8 and milepost 12.09 in West Windsor, Mercer County and Plainsboro, Middlesex County.

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What is the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act?

This Act was originally enacted in 1940 as the Bald Eagle Protection Act to protect Bald Eagles and later amended to include Golden Eagles. It prohibits the taking or possession of and commerce in Bald and Golden Eagles, part, feathers, nests, or eggs with limited exceptions. The definition of take includes pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb. Bald Eagles may not be taken for any purpose unless a permit is issued prior to the taking. Activities which can be authorized by permit are: Scientific collecting/research, exhibition, tribal religious, depredation, falconry, and the taking of inactive Golden Eagle nests, which interfere with resource development or recovery operations. Currently, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has a permitting process in the proposal stage for other activities, which may disturb Bald Eagles or take an eagle nest where their location poses a risk to human or eagle safety.

A Bald Eagle eats approximately .5-1.5 pounds a day.

Eagles have extremely keen vision. Their eyes are specially designed for long distance focus and clarity. The eye is large with a large retinal surface area and a high concentration of cones (eyes have rods and cones which allow sight) which aid in visual acuity and color perception. It has been estimated that eagles can see 3-4 times farther than humans and that they can see another eagle soaring nearly 50 miles away.

It all depends on the area where they breed. Eagles migrating to and breeding at northern latitudes (i.e., Yukon Territory) probably stay a shorter period of time, and have a shorter nesting season than those at southern latitudes (i.e., California). This is because of the shorter season in the northern areas. The water stays frozen later into the spring, and fall comes earlier there.

Typically, yes, although occasionally an intruding adult (not one of the pair) comes in (usually a female) and battles the resident bird for the territory, sometimes then taking over. If one of the pair dies, the other will find a new mate and usually stay in the same territory.

Bald Eagles reach their sexual maturity at five years of age, but can begin breeding as ealy as four years old.

No.

The eggs take 35 days to hatch. The young eaglets then nest for 10-12 weeks or more until they first leave the nest (fledge).

Eagles learn to fly at between 10-12 weeks when they fledge, and then with more and more practice to and from the nest and surrounding trees over the next month or two.

The feathers are brown as soon as they start to appear, which begin at five weeks of age; they are almost fully feathered by nine weeks. The full white head and tail is not obtained until 5-6 years of age.