Jack E. Davis, Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Gulf, introduced his new work The Bald Eagle at Page & Palette in Fairhope in early March. Jack is an environmental writer and the Rothman Family Chair in the Humanities at the University of Florida. He spends his time in Gainesville, Florida, and New Hampshire. 

Jack did his dissertation in Mississippi and fell in love with this area. He said “There is something about the South. A sense of place that you don’t find in the North. It’s a powerful sense of place and literary strength.” When asked how this area has inspired his work, he said its natural environment spoke to him and it’s one of the most biologically diverse places in the United States. He wanted The Bald Eagle to be a positive book because so much environmental writing is negative, “I wanted positive reinforcement. Not everything is tragic in our relationship with the natural world.”

I must confess, The Gulf, the Making of America’s Sea is one of my favorite books. It explains the Gulf of Mexico’s origin and chronological development along with fascinating side trips explaining how communities along its shores emerged throughout its history. 

Jack began his talk with a bit of a history lesson. In 1782, Congress adopted the Bald Eagle for the Great Seal of the United States of America. Six years earlier, within hours of declaring the colonies’ separation from British rule on July 4, 1776, a committee was formed to create a Great Seal for the newly formed country, necessary for signing treaties and such. It took six years to adopt a Great Seal which included the bald eagle on its face, yet the bald eagle is not our national bird. To this date, the United States does not recognize a national bird.

For all its heralded glory in United States history, the bald eagle is relatively unstudied and was not a popular bird throughout the first half of our nation’s existence. They were considered a nuisance and were hunted extensively. Twice pushed to the brink of extinction, the Bald Eagle Protection Act was passed in 1940, their first redemption moment. However, the chemical DDT was introduced around 1945 to help eradicate disease-carrying bugs and had the unintended consequences of killing fish-eating birds like brown pelicans, ospreys, and bald eagles. 

Those of us who grew up in the southern states didn’t experience bald eagles at all. In addition to DDT found in the waterways and in the fish that bald eagles and other birds ate, avian malaria greatly reduced populations throughout the South except in Florida. Young eaglets from nests in Florida were re-inhabited to other states with an almost 100% success rate. The white-headed raptor’s comeback exceeded all expectation and in 2010, the bald eagle population quadrupled!

Bald eagles are only found in North America. They mate for life and return each year to their natal territory nest, adding to its size each year. Some nests can be 30 to 40 years old if they survive storms, and if the trees in which the nest are built remain standing. Most eagles lay two eggs per year and eaglets leave the nest in around 8 to 14 weeks. It takes about five years for bald eagles to mature into their full white “bald” crown. There is now a raptor rehabilitation center located in every state in the U.S. 

Fortunately, the Scenic 98 Coastal community is seeing more and more bald eagles residing and raising their young here. About this time of year, bald eagles leave to return to their winter homes up north!

For more upcoming author events, go to Page & Palette for dates and times. Also, check out the Book Cellar for live music throughout the week.

‍