Bald Eagle Nest Disappears and Reappears Near Long Bar Pointe Project

Posted Tuesday, November 1, 2016 12:00 am

Dennis Maley

MANATEE COUNTY – In recent months, neighbors and local bird enthusiasts have reported the strange disappearance and reappearance of a Bald Eagle's nest on a large pine tree in a wooded area just off of El Conquistador Parkway in southwest Manatee County. Two mature Bald Eagles, a federally-protected species, have been witnessed by residents using the nest.

TBT has obtained a photo-progression of the nest, which can be seen below. Local bird enthusiasts documented the nest as being intact as of Aug. 25, as seen in the first photograph. When they returned a month later, however, the nest had inexplicably vanished.

Soon after, the eagles were witnessed rebuilding the nest. The early work can be seen in the Oct. 17 photograph, and the nest is said to currently be near its robust condition from this summer. The FWC has assigned a temporary nest ID of MN962.

The property is owned by Carlos Beruff and Larry Lieberman who are developing their controversial Long Bar Pointe project on the last major portion of undeveloped Sarasota Bay property in Manatee County. The area where the tree is located had previously been designated as a wetland. However, while Beruff was serving on the Southwest Florida Water Management District's board, the wetland designation was delineated. That delineation expires in November.

The developers have begun clearing the land under the state's agricultural exemption, a loophole which allows developers to circumvent development permits by claiming they intend to use the land for ag purposes. Once cleared, they can go ahead and build on the land without having to worry about such designations being challenged. In other words, even if the area is a functional wetland now, as it had been classified until the 2011 delineation, it wouldn't be by the time it was revisited. The eagle's nest obviously complicates plans to clear the area.

Originally passed in 1940, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act provides for the protection of the Bald Eagle and the Golden Eagle by "prohibiting the take, possession, sale, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export or import, of any Bald or Golden Eagle, alive or dead, including any part, nest, or egg, unless allowed by permit." It also protects against nest "disturbance." There is no such permit to disturb or dismantle the nest on record.

According to FWC, "disturb" includes "impacts that result from human-induced alterations such as tree clearing around a nest site even when the eagles are not present, if, upon the eagle’s return, such alterations interfere with or interrupts normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering habits, and causes injury, death or nest abandonment." The intent is to to minimize potentially harmful activities conducted within 660 feet of the nests.