Windsor Locks Canal Trail South Entrance Closed Due to Nesting Eagles

The southern portion of the Windsor Locks Canal Trail is closed until July 1 because a pair of nesting bald eagles has taken up residence there.

Bald eagles are a threatened species in Connecticut according to Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Dan Esty, the trail will be closed until the young eagles can fly or the nest fails. If either event occurs before July 1 the trail will open earlier, according to a press release from the DEP.

“Disturbance can cause the adult eagles to abandon their nest, causing the eggs or chicks to die,” Esty said in the press release.

About two miles of the trail will still be accessible from the north entrance on Canal Road in Suffield, according to the DEP.  The access road to the south entrance gate, off of Bridge Street in Windsor Locks, and the gate itself are closed.

The DEP’s release said the eagles likely chose the canal area as a nesting site because the shallow waters there provide close and easy access to fish, the preferred meal of the birds.

Connecticut had 22 documented pairs of bald eagles in 2010 and the 12 successful nests made by those pairs produced 23 new eagles, according to the DEP. Nesting bald eagles had been absent from the state from the middle years of the 1940s until 1993 due to the effects of pesticides.

Bald eagles are specifically protected while nesting by state statute and two federal acts, the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.