The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection has closed Windsor Locks Canal State Park Trail until June to protect a pair of nesting bald eagles.
The closure is necessary to keep disturbances at the nest to a minimum until the couple’s hatchlings can fly, said DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee. If there is a disturbance, bald eagles have been known to abandon their nest and their offspring before they fully develop.
Bald eagles returned to Connecticut in 1993, after an absence of more than 50 years. The Windsor Locks couple first nested there in 2011, producing two offspring. Their nestings in 2012 and 2013 produced no surviving offspring.
Visitors may still use the two northern miles of the trail, after which there will be a gate with instructions to turn around. The southern portion of the trail will be closed until the nesting is complete.