Record year for number of bald eagle nests in Kentucky

Bald eagles have been found in 72 of the 120 counties in Kentucky, according to experts with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

Some of those counties include Fayette, Scott, Woodford and Madison counties.

Officials say that thirty years ago, bald eagles were nearly extinct, but now their numbers have almost tripled.

In 2007, Kentucky had just over 50 active nests, but by 2017 Kentucky hit a record high of 164 active nests across the state and that number is expected to grow in 2018.

According to Kate Slankard, an Avian Biologist with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, eagle population growth started slow, but then took off.

"This species takes 5 years to reach maturity to where it can breed and so populations for a slow-growing species like that tend to start off kind of slow and then all of the sudden get a boost once we get enough birds that are five years old that can nest," said Slankard.

Typically during winter we'll see even more bald eagles around the state due to them migrating away from the bad weather around Great Lakes region.