Eagle Chick Hatches on Calif. Island

Another eagle chick has hatched on the Channel Islands off the coast of California as a five-year program to restore the birds there nears its end.

The project is being carried out by the Institute for Wildlife Studies under contract with the National Park Service.

Each new successful nest brings us a step closer to seeing the recovery of bald eagles on the Channel Islands, Peter Sharpe, a biologist with the institute, told the Los Angeles Times.

The most recent birth was on Santa Cruz. Last year, an eagle chick was born on the island without human assistance for the first time in 40 years.

In the past two weeks, four chicks hatched on Catalina, another of the eight islands in the chain, the newspaper reported Saturday.

The restoration project is funded with money from a settlement with Montrose Chemical Co., which discharged DDT in the area, and other companies. DDT causes egg shells to become so thin that they break in the nest.