Patrick Baranowski, area manager with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, takes a bald eagle to be banded at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Ottawa County.

The state bands such birds periodically, after giving them a brief health examination, to keep track of their numbers in Ohio.

One of the birds awaits banding after being taken from its nest. Ohio had only four nesting pairs of bald eagles in 1979; there are now at least 186 nests.

Dave Sherman, a biologist with the Division of Wildlife, applies the metal

band to the leg of the bird, which is then returned to its nest. Bald eagles were an endangered species in Ohio until last July when, because of the state s restoration efforts, they were downlisted to a threatened species.

First Published June 6, 2009, 3:07 p.m.