Eagle-eyed: They dubbed themselves the A-Team. The team is (from left) Capt. Fuzzzo Schermer, Bryan Watts and Mitchell Byrd. The trio disbanded this spring after conducting 30 years of bald eagle census flights across the Chesapeake Bay drainage. Photo by Bart Paxton Photo - of - by Joseph McClain | May 4, 2021 It’s a new era for bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay drainage — and the end of an era for a veteran team of eagle researchers. The A-Team has signed off after 30 years of flying at treetop level along the Bay and its tributaries, counting nesting eagles and their chicks. The three-man team based at William & Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology completed its last flight on April 17, counting chicks in nests up the Chickahominy River. They’ve documented an astounding comeback in the regional population of the national bird from virtually zero to today’s point of saturation.