By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
They are Sea Isle City’s version of a celebrity couple.
The question is, are they making their home, er, nest, in the beach resort or simply staying a little while like so many vacationers at the Jersey Shore?
But while they are here, the majestic bald eagles, now a common sight while perched high up on the towering utility poles lining Sea Isle Boulevard, are drawing plenty of attention.
“A lot of people are talking about them,” Sea Isle spokeswoman Katherine Custer said.
Sea Isle has had periodic eagle sightings in the past year, but the excitement level has increased with the appearance of a second bird in the past two weeks or so.
“It’s incredible,” City Council President J.B. Feeley said. “You usually see this kind of stuff on TV, but now it’s in our backyard.”
Feeley noted that he spotted two eagles near each other this week sitting on top of the utility poles on the boulevard. He wondered whether they are mates.
When determining a male eagle from a female, the males are smaller than the females, bird experts say. Their piercing eyes, powerful hooked beaks, fierce talons, white heads, regal plumage and eight-foot wingspan give them their imposing appearance.
Social media is also abuzz with reports of the eagles, as well as some stunning closeup photos of the birds captured by Dodie Reagan Corretini and posted on SIC Chatter, a Facebook forum for Sea Isle residents and visitors.
One of Corretini’s photos showing an eagle eating another bird, apparently a seagull, prompted a number of Facebook comments, some humorous.
“He is eating a seagull. Does that mean the Eagles will beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl?” Michael Cunningham asked in one post.
Once on the brink of extinction in the contiguous United States, bald eagles have since made a miraculous comeback. They are thriving in New Jersey, among other states, explained Devin Griffiths, marketing director for the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor.
Griffiths said in an interview earlier this month that eagles will not likely be found nesting in the coastal areas. They prefer forests and will often remain in the same nest for years.
However, the marshlands and back bays surrounding Sea Isle can serve as a vast hunting ground for the eagles. The tall utility poles lining the boulevard allow them to survey their territory.
Sea Isle Boulevard is a nearly two-mile-long road that passes through the wetlands of the back bays, seemingly an ideal place for eagles. The birds favor large bodies of water teeming with fish.
Those same marshlands along the boulevard are also the home for ospreys, a migratory shorebird that visits Sea Isle in the spring and summer to make their nests.
When Sea Isle Boulevard was being rebuilt over the past few years to elevate the roadway above flood levels, the construction work was required to stop during the ospreys’ nesting season to avoid disturbing the birds.
The environmental protections that were part of the boulevard project seem to be paying dividends now, as evidenced by the eagle and osprey sightings, said Paul Baldini, Sea Isle’s city solicitor.
“You sit there and say it was worth it,” Baldini said, alluding to the presence of so much wildlife.
The aggressive ospreys are hunting for the same food as the eagles. They are known to drive the eagles off while searching for food or protecting their nests.
But there’s even more competition for the eagles in Sea Isle. A fierce-looking large hawk has also been seen recently, perched atop the utility poles and flying over the marshlands.
“There was a hawk the other day. He was nasty looking,” Feeley said. “I’m surprised the eagle let him hang around.”
