Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Anne Barela spotted the bald eagle as it glided towards its nest in distant cottonwood.
"And there we have one," she said. A grin crept across Barela’s face as she kept her binoculars trained on the nest.
Every week, Barela visits six bald eagle nests near her home in Longmont to keep tabs on the nests’ condition and the birds that reside there every spring. She is one of more than 100 volunteers with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies who monitor nests across Colorado. Bald eagles, which can live 20 to 30 years in the wild, often return to the same nest year after year.
Widespread use of the insecticide DDT decimated eagle populations after World War II. By the end of the 1970s, there were only three known bald eagle nests in Colorado.
Thanks to environmental protections, like a 1972 law that banned DDT, bald eagle populations have largely recovered. Scientists estimate the state is now home to 300 nesting pairs.
Read the complete story at rmpbs.org
Produced by Cormac McCrimmon
#baldeagle
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: bit.ly/3zeF6Ch
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Anne Barela spotted the bald eagle as it glided towards its nest in distant cottonwood.
"And there we have one," she said. A grin crept across Barela’s face as she kept her binoculars trained on the nest.
Every week, Barela visits six bald eagle nests near her home in Longmont to keep tabs on the nests’ condition and the birds that reside there every spring. She is one of more than 100 volunteers with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies who monitor nests across Colorado. Bald eagles, which can live 20 to 30 years in the wild, often return to the same nest year after year.
Widespread use of the insecticide DDT decimated eagle populations after World War II. By the end of the 1970s, there were only three known bald eagle nests in Colorado.
Thanks to environmental protections, like a 1972 law that banned DDT, bald eagle populations have largely recovered. Scientists estimate the state is now home to 300 nesting pairs.
Read the complete story at rmpbs.org
Produced by Cormac McCrimmon
#baldeagle
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: bit.ly/3zeF6Ch
------------------------------------------------------
Follow Rocky Mountain PBS on our other platforms, too.
• Newsletter: rmpbs.org/newsletters
• Facebook: facebook.com/rmpbs
• Instagram: instagram.com/rmpbs
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/rocky-mountain-pbs
