Volunteers learn 'eagle etiquette,' then teach it to visitors on weekends

LACKAWAXEN ÷ About 30 volunteers-in-training received their marching orders Saturday, including a call to watch local wintering eagles like a hawk.

The Eagle Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting eagles and their habitat along the Upper Delaware River of New York and Pennsylvania, briefed the volunteers during a training session in northern Pike County overlooking the historic Roebling Bridge. Part of the volunteers' mission, in addition to observing and recording the presence of eagles and other birds of prey, is to guide an estimated 4,000 visitors in viewing the once-endangered species.

"We tell them where to look for eagles," says The Eagle Institute's Lori Danuff McKean. "We promote eagle etiquette."

From now until March, volunteers will assist the public each weekend at Institute viewing sites near the Zane Grey Museum in Lackawaxen, an observation deck near the Delaware at Narrowsburg, N.Y., and at the Mongaup Falls, N.Y., Reservoir, a state-protected eagle habitat north of Port Jervis. The volunteers will be there each Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Starting in January, the Institute will receive visitors at its field office on Scenic Drive in Lackawaxen on Wednesdays through Fridays from 1-4 p.m., and all day on weekends. Maps will be available and visitors also will able to view a half-hour video on the eagles.

"We do it in the winter because that's when the birds are here," said McKean.

Each winter about 150 eagles migrate to the Upper Delaware River in search of open water, fresh fish and large, undisturbed stands of trees. Though most fly back to their northern habitats in the spring, a growing breeding population remains in the area year-round.

Most of the migrating eagles' origins are determined by spotting their color-coded tags, attached by wildlife officials in the north. The vast majority arrive from Canada or northern New York. "One year we had an eagle from Michigan," McKean added.

McKean has been observing eagles in the area for the past 11 years.

"I used to work for the Audubon Society and I initiated an eagle monitoring program for them," she said.

When the program closed, McKean continued to pursue eagle monitoring as a volunteer.

"For a year or two I just kept it going," she said.

As the cost of returning phone inquiries and mailing eagle literature mounted, McKean formed The Eagle Institute four years ago. She applied for grants and recruited volunteers. Now the organization has enough money to hire Barbara Curry as a part-time administrative assistant.

But it is volunteers who make the organization's work possible. For Myrna Fedyniak of Ellenville, N.Y., a recent college graduate in environmental science, The Eagle Institute gives her an opportunity to keep her dreams alive.

"Birds are the major area of my interest," Fedyniak said as a group of volunteers headed to a Lackawaxen observation area for a bit of bird watching. "It's what I want to do but it's hard to get jobs with birds."

Harrison Bulthaser of Honesdale, a third-year volunteer, said he is hoping the eagles will be as plentiful this winter as they were two years ago. He said an early freeze along the Delaware last year discouraged eagles from wintering here.

"They prefer open water," Bulthaser said. "If you don't have open water you're not going to see anything."

Brad and Denise Orey, also volunteering for the third year, make the two-hour drive each weekend from Easton. They became hooked on eagle watching after attending a weekend eagle program at the Pocono Environmental Education Center.

"Where the eagles are one year they may not be the next," said Brad Orey. "The last two years we've had very good success."

During one afternoon in Mongaup Falls last year, the couple sighted 47 eagles. But yesterday the group had to settle for watching several high-flying turkeys coasting along a wind current, and a pair of redtail hawks circling overhead.

"It's not so much the weather conditions here," Orey said of the absence of eagles. "It's the weather conditions up north."

As long as the warm weather holds out, the eagles will delay their departure for the Delaware. By the end of the day, however, some bird watchers reported eagle-spotting success.

Orey enjoys sharing his insights with others, as well as spotting eagles for his own gratification. But he says there is a potential downside to exposing the eagles to a wider audience.

"You want the people to know the birds are back from low numbers," he said. "But they're not necessarily your bird enthusiasts. They make a lot of noise."

Eagles are easily spooked and will abandon a nesting site if they perceive that humans are getting too close, said Orey.

"It makes it more important for the volunteers ... to tell people to be quiet, don't slam car doors and don't scream."

Copyright © December 2, 2001, Pocono Record
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