This is bird note.

Rodney Stots is a master falconer who teaches people of all ages about raptors.

One of his first experiences in conservation was helping clean up the Anacostia River, which runs through Washington, D.C.

In the early 90s, the river lacked a crucial part of its ecosystem, bald eagles.

There were no nesting pair of bald eagles along the Anacostia, the Chesapeake, and the Potomac, basically.

As part of the Earth Conservation Corps,

Rodney helped take care of eagle chicks sent from Wisconsin

where the species was more plentiful.

The group built an artificial nest for the chicks

and released them once they grew to adult

size.

So then you started seeing about maybe two, three years later nesting pair along the Anacosti.

And then from that point on it just exploded.

So now there's at least about six or seven nesting pair from the Anacostia out through the Potomac.

For me, it was exciting.

It was more exciting that I was able to give something that other people would be able to

get to enjoy.

I know that future generations will be able to get to enjoy. I know that future generations will be able to get to see something that I almost didn't get to see.

Learn more in Rodney's new book with Kate Pipkin, Bird Brother, a Falconer's Journey,

and the Healing Power of Wildlife.

Find a link on our website, Birdnote.org.

I'm Ariana Remel. You're going to be.

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