Arizona’s bald eagle population keeps getting bigger.
The State Game and Fish Department reports there are 90 breeding pairs of eagles in the state, which this year laid 119 eggs and produced 96 hatchlings. Game and Fish has also documented seven new breeding sites in the state, bringing the total number to 104.
By comparison, in 1978, there were just nine breeding pairs of bald eagles and eleven breeding areas in Arizona.
The Prescott National Forest has two breeding sites, one at Lynx Lake and the other along the Verde River. There were no hatchlings at the Lynx Lake site this year as the adult female eagle died from unknown causes. The Verde River pair did produce one hatchling.