Rare pair of eagles nesting in Stanislaus National Forest

SONORA, Calif. (AP) A pair of nesting American bald eagles has returned to the Stanislaus National Forest, finding a home near Beardsley Reservoir northwest of Yosemite National Park.

The region is part of the eagles' historical nesting range, and the eagles aren't the first to be spotted in the forest.

``But this is the only known nesting pair,'' said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Pat Kaunert. ``It's great news.''

It's the first time in 40 years eagles have nested in the Stanislaus River watershed, said district ranger Karen Caldwell, a sign that portion of the forest is healthy.

Forest service biologist Adam Rich saw the eagles mating, though he missed the eagles' courting dance in which they join claws in mid air and fall several hundred feet before breaking apart. Biologists don't know if the eagles have laid any eggs.

The pair apparently fledged an eaglet last year, but forest service officials didn't find out about it until after the nesting phase.

This year, they're trying to make sure the protected eagles aren't disturbed. But that shouldn't affect recreational use of the lake next summer and fall, because nesting should be completed by the time the ice clears. Beardsley Road will be closed through early March, however, to protect the pair during their courtship and nest-building.

Nor will the nesting alter any logging, forest thinning or prescribed burning in the forest, except for a quarter-mile buffer around the nest, Caldwell said.

In May, the forest service will start providing interpretive programs for eagle-viewing.

There were fewer than 30 pairs of American bald eagles in California in the 1960s, though their numbers have grown to about 150 pairs today. Nationwide, the eagles have recovered to the point that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked to remove it from the list of threatened and endangered species in 1999.

On the Net:

www.r5.fs.fed.us/stanislaus.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)