[music]
IT'S AN ICONIC IMAGE OF AMERICA
AND OF OUR FREEDOM.
ONCE ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION, THE BALD EAGLE IS BACK.
[music]
AND MORE AND MORE TEXANS ARE GETTING A GLIMPSE
OF THIS FREE SPIRIT.
[nature photographer] You’re watching something totally wild.
They're beautiful.
[Walter Womack] When we do get a chance to see them we see
the kind of sight that very few people get to see.
[music]
[bi-plane engine]
THE PESTICIDE DDT, WHICH INTERFERED
WITH THE BIRDS' ABILITY TO PRODUCE STRONG EGGSHELLS
ALMOST WIPED OUT THE BALD EAGLE.
IN THE '60s THE SOUTHERN BREEDING POPULATION
DROPPED INTO THE HUNDREDS.
AND IN 1967 IT WAS OFFICIALLY LISTED
AS AN ENDANGERED SPECIES.
HERE IN TEXAS, AERIAL SURVEYS KEPT AN EYE ON THE POPULATION
AND IN THE '70s WE WERE DOWN TO JUST 4 NESTING PAIRS.
[eagle call]
[music]
THIS FORESTED RIVER BOTTOM HABITAT NEAR THE COAST
WAS THEIR FINAL REFUGE HERE IN TEXAS.
This was their last stronghold
while they were recovering from the effects of DDT.
So half of the 4 pairs were nesting here.
[music]
Across the southern United States it was down into hundreds
rather than tens of thousands.
[crop duster]
WITH THE 1972 BAN OF DDT IN THE U.S.
AND THE PUSH TO PROTECT THEIR NESTING HABITAT,
BALD EAGLE POPULATIONS HAVE BEEN MAKING A STEADY COMEBACK.
[eaglet call]
THIS NEST NEAR VICTORIA LIES IN THE HISTORIC TERRITORY
THAT KEPT THE BALD EAGLE GOING IN TEXAS
AND HERE EAGLES CONTINUE TO BREED.
THESE EAGLETS ARE 5 WEEKS OLD.
It is so exciting to watch a wild creature that is rare,
was even more rare than it is now
and yet here it is living with me on this place.
This looks good.
WALTER WOMACK'S FAMILY
HAS OWNED THIS PRIME RIVER BOTTOM HABITAT
SINCE 1878.
AND IN AND AMONGST THE OLD ELM AND PECAN TREES
SITS THIS YEAR'S NEW BROOD.
THOSE SAME YOUNG EAGLETS ARE NOW 10 WEEKS OLD.
Yeah, I bet that’s the male up above the nest.
WALTER AND LOCAL BIOLOGIST BRENT ORTEGO
CHECK ON THE SITE EVERY YEAR.
Looks like there’s two young.
To walk up on something wild like that and get close to it...
...oh yeah, that's pretty.
That’s the kind of thrill that is not available just anywhere.
It’s part of what makes this place worthwhile.
[Ortego] Because of this nest and others like it,
we have sustained a 10% increase in birds per year
and now instead of 4 pairs,
we know of approximately 200 pairs nesting in Texas.
[eagle call]
Here we go.
OVER THE YEARS THIS NEST TERRITORY HAS PRODUCED
MORE THAN 30 EAGLETS.
[Womack] There’s one up on the edge of the nest now!
[Ortego] Yeah, I see it. It's almost black.
WALTER LOOKS FORWARD TO THAT NUMBER GROWING.
[Womack] They are a wild bird that is doing its thing
right out there in the open, right up in that tree.
It’s nice to be able to keep that kind of thing going.
Yeah, they’re settled down now.
[wind]
[traffic noise]
JUST OFF HIGHWAY 29
8 MILES EAST OF LLANO SITS AN EAGLES NEST
THAT'S A LITTLE BIT MORE OUT IN THE OPEN.
AND EVERY NESTING SEASON JESS AND PEGGY THOMPSON
SET UP THEIR CAMERAS TO CAPTURE THE SPECTACLE.
[camera clicks]
[Peggy] She was stretching--
[Jess] Yeah, I got her when she had that wing out.
[Peggy] They like that one place with the 2 limbs.
[Jess] She's posing pretty nice.
[camera clicks]
DESPITE THE NOISE THE EAGLES SET UP HOME
WITHIN A FEW HUNDRED YARDS OF THE ROAD.
THEY'VE BEEN COMING TO THIS TREE SINCE 2004.
THESE JUVENILES ARE 8 WEEKS OLD.
[Peggy] Everyone is always amazed that the traffic does not disturb them
but I think that we're just far away from the nest
that they can go about their normal business.
[camera clicks]
[Jess] The average photographer doesn’t get a chance
to get the shots that we do of the day-to-day life
of an eagle.
It just has a mystique about it
that kind of draws you to it.
[Peggy] It's just awesome to watch them in flight
and they’re aerodynamicness, if that’s a word.
[Jess] There we go.
[Peggy] Oh, there goes the baby with his wings again!
Beautiful!
That's good. There you go, baby.
If they’re sitting there, it can make a nice beautiful pose
of an eagle shot. But if they’re flying or if the babies are flapping--
What is that? There he comes!
No, that's a Great Blue. Sorry.
[Jess] No, that's one of them. [Peggy] That is one! [Jess] He's coming.
He's flying by. [camera clicks]
[music]
[Jess] From sun-up until 2 hours
where we get our best shots.
[music]
[Peggy] It's so much more picturesque
to have all of the details show up that you get in that early morning light.
IT'S EARLY IN THE MORNING IN LATE MARCH
AND THESE EAGLETS HAVE JUST TURNED 11 WEEKS OLD.
THE THOMPSONS ARE HERE IN HOPE OF CAPTURING THEIR 1st FLIGHT.
[music]
[Jess] After watching the eagles as much as we have
we can kind of predict when they are going to fly.
[Jess] There he goes! [Peggy] There he goes.
[music]
That’s the pinnacle of it for us is to be here,
watch them grow up.
[Jess] There he goes. [camera clicks]
[Peggy] And then get them as they take off on that first flight
out of the nest.
[music]
Now that was nice.
[eagle call]
WITH MORE AND MORE EAGLES BUILDING NESTS
AND BREEDING HERE IN TEXAS,
MANY OF THESE RAPTORS ARE NOW COMPETING
OVER DWINDLING NEST SITES AND HABITAT.
[John Karger] They’re now fighting, we believe we have evidence
that they're fighting over the territories.
I didn’t think that I was going to see the struggles over the nesting sites
like I’m seeing.
JOHN KARGER AND HIS STAFF REHABILITATE EAGLES
AT LAST CHANCE FOREVER,
A RAPTOR RECOVERY CENTER IN SAN ANTONIO.
[Karger] A lot of the injuries that are coming in
are really evident of what’s going on.
It is adult birds.
And it looks like some of them came out of a knife fight.
This Bald Eagle was found at the Richland-Chambers Lake.
When he got to us he had a very large wound right here.
It looks like it was grabbed by another bird.
This feather is growing in really nice. Look at that!
[eagle chirps]
THIS JUVENILE EAGLE IS ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY.
[Karger] 1, 2, 3!
AND TO GET HIM READY FOR RELEASE,
THE CENTER DOES WHAT'S CALLED FLIGHT LINING.
Alright!
So what you do is you release the bird to fly…
Ease him down!
...and you control where that bird is going to some extent
by using the line as a way of getting it back down on the ground.
Beautiful! Beautiful!
That was nice.
You ready to let this bird go?
IT'S 3 MONTHS LATER
AND THAT JUVENILE EAGLE IS ABOUT TO BE FREE.
The bird weighed 3.2 pounds when it came in
and it is now over 8 1/2 pounds.
You guys ready?
[music]
NOW THAT THIS MIGHTY BIRD IS OFF THE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST
IT'S OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP IT THAT WAY.
[Karger] On the count of 3, everybody ready?
1,
2,
and 3!
[music]
Beautiful.
Fly, baby, fly.
Fly, baby, fly!
Atta girl!
[Karger] The Bald Eagle disappearing from the earth
was caused by us humans.
Its recovery is our recovery.
Its health is our health.
Its clean sky, clean air, clean water, clean earth
is our clean air, clean water, clean earth.
And we are the ones that should take care of it
because we put it in that position.
[music] [eagle calls]