Bald Eagle Wildlife Study Using
Geographical Information Systems
Project Proposal
http://www.nhptv.org/NATUREWORKS/baldeagle.htm
The State of Florida is looking for an area to set up increased protection for the
bald eagle's habitat. I was tasked by the State of Florida to help identify an
ideal location to set up this preserve. They would also like to know some of the
manmade factors that could affect the survival of the species. The final
decision will be made by the Conservation Board of Florida. After creating
multiple maps showing the spatial relationship between bald eagle nests and
factors that may affect the environment around those nests I have come up
with two possible locations for a preserve. Of these two locations I
recommend the selection of the area labeled Potential Area Two.
Bald Eagles
 Bald eagles were named the National Symbol of the United States in









1782
At the time their population was estimated between 25,000 to 75,000
in the lower 48 States (Huerta)
Bald eagles feed primarily on fish
Bald eagles are monogamous and lay 1 to 3 eggs a year
With the introduction of the pesticide DDT to the environment, the
population of the bald eagle dramatically declined to 420 breeding
pairs by 1963
DDT banned
In 1973 they were listed as endangered by the Endangered Species Act
In the 30 years since the bald eagle’s numbers have grown to 4,450.
Florida has the second highest number of bald eagle breeding pairsin
the lower 48
Bald eagles remain threatened
Distribution of Bald Eagle Breeding Pairs in the United States
Legend
States
Eagle_Pair
125 and less
126 - 250
251 - 500
501 - 1000
1001 and greater
Data taken from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and added to United States shapefile.
<http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/issues/BaldEagle/baldeaglepopmapfinal.pdf>
Goals
 Locate an area in Florida to focus the project on
 use GIS to map out bald eagle nests
 use different man made and natural variables near
bald eagle nests to select potential locations for
increased protection
 Major roads, rivers and lakes, solid waste facilities and
major cities
Bald Eagle Nest
Shapefile
Florida County
Shapefile
Downloaded from:
Florida Geographic Data
Library
Downloaded from:
US Census GIS Data
Select by attribute only
those nests that were
active in 2006
Spatial Join
Spatially join the Bald Eagle
layer to the county layer
Summarize the attribute table of the
new shapefile using the FIPS
column
Use graduated
colors choropleth
map to show the
distribution of bald
eagle nests per
county.
Symbology
Join attributes from the
summarized table to the
original county layer
Choropleth Map of Eagle Nests by County in Florida
Legend
FloridaCounties
Sum_EaglesCounty.Cnt_FIPS
10 and less
11 - 20
21 - 40
41 - 80
81 and greater
Analysis of Choropleth Map
 From the choropleth map I decided to select nine
counties for a larger scale analysis of the bald eagle
 Polk county had the greatest number of active eagle
nests in 2006
 I selected Polk county and the following other counties
for analysis: Volusia, Seminole, Orange, Lake,
Alachua, Marion, Polk, Osceola
Selected Study Area of Florida
Bald Eagle Nest
Shapefile
Selected Area
Shapefile
Use ToolBox to merge the
counties to create a single
large polygon .
Use the selected
area shapefile to
clip the bald
eagle nest data by
location
New Shapefile created of
just those nests located
inside the selected area.
Clip
Selected Area Merged
Polygon
Legend
EaglesActive06_Clip
SelectedArea_Dissolve
EaglesActive06
FloridaState
Larger scale view of selected area with
those eagle nests that fall within.
Perform the same clip operation to
 Florida Major Roads
 Florida Rivers and Lakes
 Florida Solid Waste Facilities
 Florida Major Cities
Florida
Major
Roads
Create buffers
around the Major
Roads
Bald Eagle
Nest Clip
CLIP
Use buffers to
clip the bald
eagle nest that
intersect the
roads buffer
Selected
Area
Buffers around Roads
Legend
Eagles_200m
Eagles_400m
Eagles_800m
Eagles_1600m
EaglesActive06_Clip
RoadsBuffer_200m
RoadsBuffer_400m
RoadsBuffer_800m
RoadsBuffer_1600m
SelectedArea_Dissolve
scale 1:2,000,000 meters
Buffers around Roads
Legend
Eagles_200m
Eagles_400m
Eagles_800m
Eagles_1600m
EaglesActive06_Clip
RoadsBuffer_200m
RoadsBuffer_400m
RoadsBuffer_800m
RoadsBuffer_1600m
SelectedArea_Dissolve
Scale 1:400,000 meters
Roads & Bald Eagle Nest
 Total Number of Bald Eagle Nests in Selected Area 578
 Put buffers around the roads to show how close the birds nests are.
Use select by location to find out the number of nests inside the buffer.
 200 meter buffer: how many nests are within that buffer: 56
 400 meter buffer: how many within this buffer: 118
 800 meter buffer: how many within this buffer: 233
 1600 meter buffer: how many in this buffer: 358
Bald Eagle
Nest Clip
Solid
Waste
Create buffers
around the Solid
Waste Facilities
CLIP
Use buffers to
clip the bald
eagle nest that
intersect the
solid waste
buffer
Selected
Area
Buffers around Solid Waste Facilities
Legend
Eagles_400m
Eagles_800m
Eagles_1600m
Eagles_3200m
Eagles_6400m
!(
EaglesActive06_Clip
SolidWaste_200m
SolidWaste_400m
SolidWaste_800m
SolidWaste_1600m
SolidWaste_3200m
SolidWaste_6400m
SelectedArea_Dissolve
Scale 1:2,000,000
Buffers around Solid Waste Facilities
Legend
Eagles_400m
Eagles_800m
Eagles_1600m
Eagles_3200m
Eagles_6400m
!(
EaglesActive06_Clip
SolidWaste_200m
SolidWaste_400m
SolidWaste_800m
SolidWaste_1600m
SolidWaste_3200m
SolidWaste_6400m
SelectedArea_Dissolve
Scale 1:400,000 meters
Solid Waste Facilities & Bald Eagle Nest
 Total Number of Bald Eagle Nests in Selected Area 578
 Put buffers around the solid waste facilities to show how close the
birds nests are. Use select by location to find out the number of nests
inside the buffer.
 How many nests are within 200 meters: zero
 How many nests are within 400 meters: 1
 How many nests are within 800 meters: 3
 How many nests are within 1600 meters: 10
 How many nests are within 3200 meters: 50
 How many nests are within 6400 meters: 145
Bald Eagle
Nest Clip
Rivers &
Lakes
Create buffers
around the Rivers
and Lakes
CLIP
Use buffers to
clip the bald
eagle nest that
intersect the
rivers and lakes
buffer
Selected
Area
Buffers around Rivers & Lakes
Legend
Eagles_200m
Eagles_400m
Eagles_800m
Eagles_1600m
Eagles_3200m
Eagles_6400m
EaglesActive06_Clip
200m River Buffer
400m River Buffer
800m River Buffer
1600m River Buffer
3200m River Buffer
6400m River Buffer
SelectedArea_Dissolve
Scale 1:2,000,000
Buffers around Rivers & Lakes
Legend
Eagles_200m
Eagles_400m
Eagles_800m
Eagles_1600m
Eagles_3200m
Eagles_6400m
EaglesActive06_Clip
200m River Buffer
400m River Buffer
800m River Buffer
1600m River Buffer
3200m River Buffer
6400m River Buffer
SelectedArea_Dissolve
Scale 1:400,000 meters
Rivers & Lakes & Bald Eagle Nest
 Total Number of Bald Eagle Nests in Selected Area 578
 Put buffers around the rivers and lakes to show how close the birds
nests are. Use select by location to find out the number of nests inside
the buffer.
 How many nests are within 200 meters: 31
 How many nests are within 400 meters: 53
 How many nests are within 800 meters: 107
 How many nests are within 1600 meters: 182
 How many nests are within 3200 meters: 265
 How many nests are within 6400 meters: 346
Major
Florida
Cities
Create buffers
around the Cities
Bald Eagle
Nest Clip
CLIP
Use buffers to
clip the bald
eagle nest that
intersect the city
buffer
Selected
Area
Buffers around Florida Major Cities
Legend
Cities_EagleBufer4
Cities_EagleBufer5
Cities_EagleBufer6
EaglesActive06_Clip
Cities_Clip_Buffer1
Cities_Clip_Buffer2
Cities_Clip_Buffer3
Cities_Clip_Buffer4
Cities_Clip_Buffer5
Cities_Clip_Buffer6
SelectedArea_Dissolve
Scale 1:2,000,000
Buffers around Florida Major Cities
Legend
Cities_EagleBufer4
Cities_EagleBufer5
Cities_EagleBufer6
EaglesActive06_Clip
Cities_Clip_Buffer1
Cities_Clip_Buffer2
Cities_Clip_Buffer3
Cities_Clip_Buffer4
Cities_Clip_Buffer5
Cities_Clip_Buffer6
SelectedArea_Dissolve
Scale 1:400,000 meters
Major Cities & Bald Eagle Nest
 Total Number of Bald Eagle Nests in Selected Area 578
 Put buffers around the cities to show how close the birds nests are.
Use select by location to find out the number of nests inside the
buffer.
 How many nests are within 200 meters: zero
 How many nests are within 400 meters: zero
 How many nests are within 800 meters: zero
 How many nests are within 1600 meters: 9
 How many nests are within 3200 meters: 31
 How many nests are within 6400 meters: 112
Final Map
 For a final map I added buffers from each of the
variables to the map
 Chose the buffer based on what the average number of
nest within the buffers was
 The buffer closest to the average was chosen
 Selected the bald eagle nests that did not intersect any
of the buffers
Buffers around Cities, Roads, Rivers & Lakes, and Solid Waste Facilities
Legend
Eagles_OutsideBuffers
Cities_3200m
SolidWaste_3200m
MajorRoads_400m
MajorRoads_800m
Rivers_3200m
SelectedArea_Dissolve
Scale 1:2,000,000
Potential Sites for Extra Protection of Bald Eagles
Potential Area 1
Scale 1:275,000
Legend
Eagles_OutsideBuffers
Cities_3200m
SolidWaste_3200m
MajorRoads_400m
MajorRoads_800m
Rivers_3200m
SelectedArea_Dissolve
Potential Area 2
Scale 1:275,000
Raster Data of Florida
Water Bodies
Conclusion
The two possible areas for increase protection that I
chose were chosen because they both had a large
number of bird nests, were located near water supplies
and were not intersecting any of the buffers that were
created around the man made variables.
Of the two areas I would suggest the second over the
first because there is a larger area of land without major
roads. It also appears from the raster data that there are
more areas of water.
Future Research Suggestions
 Study the selected areas at a larger scale
 Study the selected areas with more variables
 Add a habitat shapefile to find out what trees the bald
eagles like to nest in
 Study the possible future land use in the area
 Add building shapefiles to a larger scale study
 Add non major roads
 Add information on bald eagle mortality events