Half a year ago, in the dead of winter, a local pair Bald eagles initiated their annual nesting season. I wrote up a Dawn Chorus then about these eagles with the little bit of their history I knew (www.dailykos.com/...), and now I can tell you about how their season went this year.
This is the maritime Pacific Northwest so eagles are plentiful — it’s a rare day I don’t see one — but this pair is unique for me because I can see their nest. Most eagle nests are hidden and inaccessible, mostly on private property. While this one is on private land, it’s in a field, visible from a relatively unfrequented public road, so any time I want I can drive by, stop, roll down the window and gaze across the field to the nest tree in a small copse. The eagles are indifferent to traffic; they also don’t care about the farmer’s activity cultivating or mowing the field below their nest. Evidently they picked this spot knowing all that, and find it satisfactory.
In coastal Washington State, the breeding season for eagles starts in winter, usually December or January when many of them have returned from mainland rivers where they feed on spawned out salmon. Research from other parts of the country suggest eagles don’t spend the off-season together ( journeynorth.org/...). When they reunite at their home territory, they reestablish their pair bond and get back to work. They must use the late winter months to reinforce and refurbish their substantial nest before it’s occupied in the coming season. Mating and egg-laying starts at the end of February around here and by the end of March most eagles are incubating. Typically eaglets hatch in April, are nestlings for three months, and fledge in early to mid-July.
Quick backstory of the 2017 season:
I didn’t learn about this nest until well into the nesting season. We began watching on June 5, 2017. Last year there was just one eaglet in the nest which is not unusual. In Washington, "an average of 35% of active nests produced no young, 1 young fledged at 35% of nests, 2 young at 29% and 3 young at 1% of nests" (Stinson et al. 2001).
The eaglet was fully feathered in its dark brown juvenile plumage by then. Most of the time it was lying down in the nest, sometimes standing up, occasionally wingersizing. One or both parents were around about a third of the time.
On June 27, the eaglet branched, and spent most of its time perched on a particular nearby branch.
Some time between July 11 and 12 the eaglet fledged. We never saw it at the nest again. A few days later one adult perched there by itself. Then the nest was empty until late October.
This pair of eagles returned early from salmon season, for some reason. We saw them off and on in the vicinity of the nest, sometimes one, sometimes both, into the new year.
2018 season
On January 9 we saw what we’d been hoping for since the previous July: NESTORATIONS! Both eagles were present, one in the nest, and as we watched, the other came swooping in to land there. The newly arrived eagle handed the other a branch and that one began poking it into the nest.
This is a view of the nest copse from across the valley:
By the end of February, one eagle was invariably visible in the nest. We had high hopes that incubation was underway. Our stormy winter weather is mostly wind and rain, which the eagles handled easily. The tree waved around though.
By April it looked like there was activity in the nest. From our angle, it’s impossible to see over the edge but the parent on duty was doing stuff, leaning over, attending — eaglets?
Yes! In May we got our first view of two woolly-grey babies. By their color and stance I estimated they were about 3 weeks old. One of the eaglets (on the left in these pics) appeared larger and more active.
I couldn’t capture both eaglets in a picture on the 15th but I saw movement by two on that day.
But starting a week later, we were becoming concerned that there was only one in the nest. As the eaglet that we could see got bigger, there was no sign of the other.
By June the remaining eaglet was actively standing up, walking around and begging. I could hear it across the field. Its plumage was all dark brown by now.
By the middle of July the eaglet was hopping and flapping, and finally it branched! We were wondering if it ever would, or skip this stage.
For the next week it hopped back and forth between the nest and the branch, working on coordination.
The BIG DAY was July 24. The eaglet was absent in the morning when we went by...fledged!
We went by again in the afternoon, and surprisingly, it was back.
It stuck around, or came and went, for another day....
….but on the 26th it was gone for good.
Occasionally we’ve seen an adult near the nest but no sign of the youngster.
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Things we learned this season, and questions for future years:
This eaglet branched and fledged about two weeks later than last year’s. Which is more typical?
A big surprise was the disappearance of one eaglet partway through the nesting. Did it die? Fall out?
I’m noting a difference in the nest tree this year. It’s always a bit skimpy and spindly, but it appears to have less green foliage now: see the “branching” branches this year in comparison to 2017. If the nest tree dies, will the eagles relocate? If so, will it be in the same copse, or somewhere less visible? We will be on tenterhooks for the next half year, waiting to see what the eagle pair does after their vacation.
In the meantime, there will be plenty of eagles to watch, including juveniles learning the ropes.
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This account is already pretty long, but you might enjoy a few scenes of juveniles as they grow over their first year. Only about half survive, even in our benign climate with carrion, rabbits, ducks, gulls and fish to eat. Competition is fierce, and they have a steep learning curve to develop hunting skills quickly.
Eagle pair flying free. Nesting season is over for 2018. We can’t wait for next year!
Time for your birdy observations of the week.