Introduction: Florida supports the largest number of breeding bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) of any southeastern state. Approximately 70% of the occupied nesting territories in the Southeast are in Florida. As development of Florida's coastal and freshwater riparian environments increases, the direct and indirect effects of pollution, habitat disturbance, and habitat loss on nesting bald eagles will accelerate. Bald eagles will be among the first species to respond to these impacts.

Known eagle nesting territories within the state were surveyed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) during the 2002 nesting season with fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft beginning in late November 2001 and extending through mid-April 2002. Nest locations were determined with the use of aircraft-based Global Positioning System (GPS) units. Accuracy of locations is estimated to be within 0.1 miles of the true location. Locations are given in longitude and latitude to hundredths of a minute. The Township, Range, and Section of each nest location are also provided. Township, Range, and Section were determined from the Public Land Survey System grid that includes Land Grant parcels. Yearly nest activity status is listed for the 1998 through 2002 nesting seasons. "Y" denotes an active nest, "N" denotes an inactive nest, and "-" denotes an unobserved nest or a nest whose activity status is unknown. The "last" column, indicates which year the nest was last active.

Nest data can be searched for by FWC Nest ID, by Florida county , by Township, Range, and Section, or by proximity to a user-specified point of interest. Instructions for using the search engines are listed above each corresponding search.

Please Note: This database contains records for all known and verified bald eagle nests in the state of Florida that were surveyed by the FWC during the period 1998-2002. Nests discovered more recently than this are not yet included in the database. Each year, a number of new nest sites are found. For this reason, users of this database are cautioned that the absence of an eagle nest record for a given property does not necessarily mean nesting eagles are not present. This nest locator service is not meant to replace a specific on-the-ground survey. Approximately 75% of the bald eagle nests in Florida are located on private land. Providing these locations does not confer any permission by FWC to access private property.