More Eagles Make Home, Sweet Home At Beaver Lake

HOUSE SITTER STAFF PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF A bald eagle is seen March 14 at the edge of its nest at Beaver Lake in the area of Coppermine Lodge. The nest is one of four active nests on Beaver Lake where adults have raised young this spring. A fifth nest on the War Eagle River near the lake is believed to be abandoned, after a check of the nest.
HOUSE SITTER STAFF PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF A bald eagle is seen March 14 at the edge of its nest at Beaver Lake in the area of Coppermine Lodge. The nest is one of four active nests on Beaver Lake where adults have raised young this spring. A fifth nest on the War Eagle River near the lake is believed to be abandoned, after a check of the nest.

BEAVER DAM

Bald eagles are the latest residents who apparently think, by golly, Beaver Lake is a pretty nice place to live.

At A Glance

About Bald Eagles

• The U.S. Department of Interior took the bald eagle off the endangered and threatened species list June 28, 2007.

• Bald eagles have a wingspan of up to 7 feet. They can fly at altitudes of 10,000 feet. During level flight, they can reach speeds of 30 to 35 mph.

• Bald eagles weigh 10 to 14 pounds. Bones are light because they are hollow.

• Their diet is mainly fish, which attracts them to Beaver Lake. They also eat carrion.

• A bald eagle is a mottled brown until the age of 5 or 6. That is when it reaches sexual maturity and gets its white head plumage and white tail feathers.

• Bald eagles lay from one to three eggs.

• The bald eagle became the nation’s symbol in 1782 when the Great Seal of the United States was adopted.

Source: www.baldeagleinfo.c….

The number of bald eagle nests on the lake now numbers four. The fourth nest was seen this winter on the north end of the lake.

Even better news is that adult bald eagles raised young at all four nests this spring, said Alan Bland, a park ranger with the Army Corps of Engineers.

Three of the nests are in the Beaver Dam area, including one that is believed to be the new nest built last winter. A fourth nest is in the Coppermine Lodge area of Beaver Lake. That nest has been active for several years and could be the lake's first bald eagle nest.

They're unmistakable, these bald eagle nests. Built of branches and sticks, nests are large as a washing machine or the bed of a pickup. More nests at the lake are the result of bald eagles numbers increasing around the nation, Bland said.

March is when adult bald eagles here are at their nests, either sitting on eggs or feeding hatchlings. Bland and I hit the road and the water March 24 to have a look-see at all four nests to see if the adults are proud bald eagle parents and raising young.

We visited the newest nest first.

WARY RESIDENTS

The newest nest on the block is on the north end of the lake in the area of Starkey park. Bland said the nest was built this winter. That's when James Bloxam, also a ranger, spotted it.

"He was in the area and heard a bunch of crows cackling around the nest. That's how he saw it," Bland said.

The corps doesn't want to pinpoint the location of the nest because the adults seem more skittish than most eagles whenever rangers have checked on the nest. It's also close to a road.

We drove to the nest by land and studied it from a distance with binoculars.

"That nest is 6 or 7 feet across," Bland said.

We could barely see the top of a bald eagle's head sticking up above the rim of the nest. That told Bland an eagle was sitting on eggs.

Too bad we didn't have a boat so we could see the nest from the water. Hey, wait. Bland keyed his radio to see if Ranger Donna Bryant had her ears on. She was on the lake taking care of boat dock business.

Luck was on our side. She was right across the lake from us. After her dock appointment, Bryant headed our way.

We hopped in the big steel boat, and Bryant chauffeured us around a point. We all three got a good look at the nest from the water through our binoculars. We could still see the head of the adult in the nest.

HIGH IN THE PINES

Bryant had time before her next dock appointment, so we headed south down the lake to the Big Clifty arm to look at another nest that's been there for maybe five years.

This nest is in an odd spot high on a ridge and wide open. It sticks out like a sore thumb. We idled into a cove near the nest and saw an adult bald eagle perched below the nest in a shoreline tree.

That's a sure sign adults are raising young in that nest, Bland said.

After a few photos, we let the eagle be and headed toward the dam.

BY A DAM SITE

If the eagles at the newest nest are skittish, the bald eagles at this next nest we visited are social butterflies.

We pulled up to the big nest that is less than 100 yards from a new lake home under construction. The nest was there first, but the bald eagles didn't abandon it when construction activity started.

Before we even saw the nest, we spotted an adult bald eagle in a shoreline tree. The nest was between the eagle and the home under construction.

We'd seen all these adult bald eagles March 21 when most migratory bald eagles that winter at Beaver have headed back north.

Bland is like a proud papa, beaming with pride at the sight of these lakeside nests. Especially a new nest.

"A new nest is like having another child born. It's that exciting," he said.

I bid farewell to Bland and Bryant that afternoon. There was one last nest to visit. I went to this one alone.

FEEDING TIME

The nest site in the area of Coppermine Lodge, between points 9 and 10 on the lake, may be the first one on the lake. The ice storm of January 2009 wrecked the tree that held the original nest. The resident eagles built a new nest in another pine tree nearby.

This pine has since died, but the nest looks in good shape. It was easy to see right off that young are being raised.

I traveled by boat to the nest site. Long before I saw the nest, I spotted the bright white head of a roosting adult bald eagle. After shutting down the engine I grabbed the binoculars. There was the eagle, perched on the rim of the big nest.

I eased in with the trolling motor for closer inspection. Through the field glasses, I watched the eagle bob its head into the nest again and again like it was feeding young eaglets foods. Maybe so, maybe not. It appears young are in the nest for a 100 percent nesting success rate on the lake.

There's a fifth nest in the lake area that appears to be inactive. It's on the War Eagle River about a mile upstream from the War Eagle Mill, near Beaver Lake as the eagle flies. Bland and I spotted it on a float trip last year. On March 14, we paddled a canoe upstream to check on it.

We didn't see any signs of activity or any adult eagles. Bald eagles typically spruce up a nest before they raise young. This nest looked run down and neglected. We're not positive, but the nest appears to be abandoned.

Bland was disappointed, but we're both happy about the eaglets that have fledged in the four active nests. Eagles, too, find Beaver Lake to their liking.

Outdoors on 04/17/2014

Upcoming Events