Inwood Hill Park

Thursday, June 10, 2004 marked the arrival of four eaglets to Manhattan’s Inwood Hill Park as part of the Bald Eagle Introduction Program. In its third year, this five-year program seeks to re-introduce the species into the wilds of New York City. As part of the Endangered Species Recovery Programs of both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, four young eaglets from the State of Wisconsin have a new home in Inwood Hill Park.

"Our Eagle Reintroduction Program welcomes these majestic birds back to New York City," said Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe. "We look forward to seeing them sail across our skyline, visit the Palisades, hunt the city’s lakes and rivers, and rest atop its landmarks."

The eaglets will live in two 6’X 6’ "hack boxes," tree houses located at high elevations in the park. The eaglets will dine on fish donated by Fairway Market and will be blindly fed to avoid human contact.

BP, for the third year, donated money to make this project possible. This funding helps Parks & Recreation’s Urban Park Rangers provide 24-hour surveillance of the eaglets using innovative technology. Upon arrival to Inwood Hill Park, each eaglet was outfitted with a harness carrying a tiny radio transmitter "backpack" so that the Urban Park Rangers can keep track of the birds. The eaglets will also sport both a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a Department of Environmental Conservation leg band.

In the coming weeks, the doors to the boxes will be opened for the eagles to explore their surroundings. They first go through the "brancher" stage, in which they investigate their immediate surroundings before trying to fly. They jump and bounce on branches to exercise their massive wings. Soon after that, they take the big leap and try their first flight. This is almost always a clumsy and potentially dangerous event. It can take them days to return to where they began, in this case their hack boxes. At around 16 weeks of age, they have gained enough flying expertise that they begin leaving the hack site. Sometimes they drag this departure out, lingering nearby for a few days; other times, they fly up the Hudson River in search of other bald eagles. Subadult bald eagles usually live together in groups, the younger ones learning how to hunt and scavenge for food from their elders.

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