Another eagle hatches on Santa Cruz Island

In the last two weeks, four other eaglets hatched on Santa Catalina Island, another in the chain of eight islands off the coast of Southern California. The recent births are part of an effort to restore eagle habitat on the Channel Islands.

"Each new successful nest brings us a step closer to seeing the recovery of bald eagles on the Channel Islands," said Peter Sharpe, a biologist with the Institute for Wildlife Studies, which has a National Park Service contract to oversee the restoration.

The first unaided hatching of a bald eagle chick on the islands in nearly 60 years occurred last year on Santa Cruz, to the same parents whose egg hatched Friday.

Biologists are in the final year of a five-year project to return bald eagles to Santa Cruz after a four-decade absence.

Bald eagles have been unable to reproduce on the islands because their eggs contain high levels of DDT, a now-banned pesticide that Montrose Chemical Co. discharged off the Palos Verdes Peninsula throughout the 1950s and '60s.

Since 1991, the money for the program has come from a $140-million settlement paid by Montrose, other chemical companies and about 100 municipalities.

To watch the new eaglet's first days in the nest, visit http://chil.vcoe.org/eagle_cam.htm.

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greg.griggs@latimes.com