Birds of Lake Tahoe: Participating in the 2024 Annual Bald Eagle Count at Lake Tahoe

Here I am volunteering again for another bird-related research project at Lake Tahoe. Yay for citizen science!

This time, I was participating in the annual Mid-Winter Bald Eagle Count organized by the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science (TINS). These Bald Eagle surveys typically occur on the second Friday/Saturday of each January. This year (2024), TINS coordinated 160+ citizen science volunteers (including myself) to help with the Bald Eagle Count. So, although we're still waiting on the results, I believe the event was a big success just for the coordinated effort alone.

Once I receive the results, I'll post them here. Realistically, though, Lake Tahoe only sees between 20-30 Bald Eagles on average during this annual count. That may not seem like many, but Bald Eagle numbers are generally highest during the winter months as Lake Tahoe provides lots of open water. This means that there's usually plenty of waterfowl and some fish for the Bald Eagles to sustain themselves on.

There was a big uptick in Bald Eagle numbers during the 2021 mid-winter count (42 were observed), but that appears to have been an anomaly.

This is a fantastic citizen science project in which to participate, and I'm very grateful that the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science leads and organizes it every year (along with lots of other cool nature-related events!).

*Please note that I took many of the photos that I present in this video on other days.

• Tahoe Institute for Natural Science ( https://www.tinsweb.org/ )
• US Fish & Wildlife Service Eagle Population Status ( https://www.fws.gov/project/eagle-pop... )
• US Fish & Wildlife Service Bald Eagle Fact Sheet ( https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/fil... )
• iNaturalist ( https://www.inaturalist.org/people/ja... )

• CONSIDERATIONS AND REASONS FOR DOING A BIG YEAR ( https://tahoetrailguide.com/considera... )
• DEEPEN YOUR OUTDOOR EXPERIENCE BY DOCUMENTING YOUR NATURE-RELATED OBSERVATIONS ( https://tahoetrailguide.com/deepen-yo... )
• Woodpeckers of the Lake Tahoe Basin and How They Contribute to a Healthy Forest (    • Woodpeckers of the Lake Tahoe Basin a...   )
• Tahoe Trail Guide Woodpecker article - https://tahoetrailguide.com/how-woodp...
• Birds of Lake Tahoe: Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) (    • Birds of Lake Tahoe: Pileated Woodpec...   )
• Tahoe Trail Guide Pileated Woodpecker article - https://tahoetrailguide.com/birds-of-...

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Full disclosure ... I'm not an ornithologist or wildlife biologist, so there may be errors within this work. I've also most likely oversimplified certain concepts. However, I've produced this video in good faith and with a fair amount of research, so I hope there's nothing too grievously wrong with it. I consider myself a lifelong learner, so please offer any and all relevant and helpful feedback in the comment section below.

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