• New River flowing through the gorge

    New River Gorge

    National River West Virginia

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    A landslide has forced the closure of Cunard Road in New River Gorge National River More »

Bald Eagles

bald eagle perched in a sycamore tree

David Hypes

Bald Eagle at Brooks Island, April 2011

Only a few years ago seeing a bald eagle in New River Gorge was a rare sight. In recent years however, the thrilling experience of seeing a bald eagle soaring over the New River has become a much more common occurrence. Although eagles had been seen for several years in the gorge, the first confirmed breeding pair of eagles in the park established a nest in the winter of 2009 to 2010. The nest was sighted in a large American sycamore tree on the downstream end of Brooks Island, in the southern part of New River Gorge National River. This pair of eagles laid two eggs in February 2010. For the next 34 to 35 days, the eagles were observed on a daily basis taking turns sitting on the eggs and soaring from the nest in search of food. Two eaglets hatched in March and were seen first taking flight in early June.

In the winter of 2011 the adult eagles returned to breed again and three chicks were hatched in early March. The pair returned in 2012 and had two more chicks.

To learn more about bald eagles at New River Gorge, check out our Bald Eagle Brochure.

To view a video of our eagles' nest, go to our multimedia page.

Check out the bald eagles photo gallery.

 
Bald eagle flying over a nest with two chicks
Brooks Island Eagles - April 2011
David Hypes

Did You Know?

Historic Logging Railroad at Garden Ground

The New River Gorge was logged extensively thoughout the past century. The landscape is now recovering, with the park ecosystem returning to its more natural state, but there are still plenty of signs of the past activities.