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Pikes/Pines | Even over Capitol Hill, bald eagles are assholes

There is a long list of things I take for granted. Some are deeply important like clean running water. Others are not, but make my life significantly better: good pizza and microbreweries, for example. To some degree, I could live without pizza and beer, but certainly not water. I’d argue that bald eagles fall somewhere in between this hierarchy of needs. But that doesn’t mean I necessarily love bald eagles. They feel more like an oil change.

Just under a year ago, my favorite undergraduate professor and dear friend passed away. His personality and impression on generations of ornithology students was so indelible I can’t help but quote him on a regular basis. One of my favorite statements during field outings was in relation to young eagles: “They look like they are rotting” — which summed up his feelings on bald eagles quite well.

I’m not quite to the point of accusing young, mottled individuals of being flying corpses, but I cannot call myself an eagle fanboy either. They are deeply aggressive bullies that scare other birds and alter their behavior. This can be impressive but also frustrating when you are birding and every other species in the vicinity is cowering under the frown of the big bald tyrants. Their presence soaring this late winter above Capitol Hill is, at best, a mixed bag of excitement and dread.

 

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Bald eagles regularly catch ducks on the water by diving at them until they either become exhausted or drown while trying to get away. They also steal food from just about any bird they feel like hazing including their own kind. I’ve seen them snag a vole from a Short-eared Owl in the Skagit Valley, smack fish from a gull’s beak, and chase a Peregrine Falcon off its kill. They are unmatched kleptoparasites. And, to top it all off, they just love refuse. The best place to see loads of bald eagles in the Pacific Northwest are offal yards, fish processors, and even dumps.

Before you draw too many comparisons between aspects of this bird’s natural history and its special place as our national symbol, I should reel it in a bit. I’m not suggesting bald eagles are worthy of being cancelled (a lot of this is just about being a snobby birder), because just like the US of A, there is complexity here and not just polarized dualities. Eagles have redeeming stories and qualities.

Many people are aware that in the not too distant past bald eagles were nearly gone from good swaths of their range. So rarely do we get to celebrate success stories, but in these bullies we have a pretty incredible one: in 1978 they were listed as an Endangered Species, nearly gone from a good portion of their range. In 2007 they were removed from that designation and have been on the increase ever since (though they are still a protected species). There was a significant sea change involved, the banning of DDT, that made all the difference in their survival and eventual dramatic comeback. I was not alive to follow this recovery but I do know that humans have tenuous relationships with big predatory species, and that makes this all the more impressive.

To belabor a point I make repeatedly on Pikes/Pines, simply paying attention will afford you huge benefits in experiencing urban nature. The Hill is nearly surrounded by water and we have tall trees, good habitat for these so called sea eagles. Indeed, if you learn to recognize their thin horse whinny of a call, you’ll soon realize that bald eagles are often aloft overhead, soaring on their huge planks of wings. They are here year-round, but this is a great time of year to observe them because we’re in the very beginning of the breeding season. That means heightened courtship behavior that can take the form of dramatic airshows as well as nest building efforts.

There are over 500 active eagle nests in Washington state alone and we’re lucky to have several nearby (at Seward Park and near the Center for Urban Horticulture – I’m quite possibly unaware of closer nests). Some birds of prey, like Cooper’s Hawks, can be fairly cryptic in their nesting habits. Just like most aspects of bald eagles, their nests are large and their building activities are incredibly obvious. Picture a giant bird flying by with a big stick in its talons and you’ve got the gist of it. A pair of bald eagles build their nest together, called an eyrie, and will add to it year after year. In Seattle trees of choice are often Black Cottonwoods or Douglas Fir, because they are tall and have massive crowns that can support nests that can weigh up to 2000 pounds and be nine feet in diameter.

Much more is written about bald eagles than a good number of other species, but there are some quick facts worth relating that make observing eagles a bit more interesting.

Bald eagles are sexually-dimorphic, meaning that the sexes are visually distinct, in this case males being smaller than females (this may reduce competition for food between the sexes). An eagle doesn’t start breeding until it’s at least five years old. Those birds you see with entirely white heads and tails didn’t always look like that. A young bird goes through five years of plumage change that starts out brown and slowly mottles towards the bird we all know. And finally, those adult pairs are monogamous and mate for life, which is the exception in much of the bird world.

In a lot of ways, bald eagles are a bird I love to hate on. While I may turn up my nose when a friendly stranger asks if I “saw the eagle,” while I’m enjoying higherbrow birds, I still stop for them. Bald eagles are immense, interesting, and impressive and thankfully they are kind of everywhere. I see them on my commute to work, out the window of my office, soaring over downtown. And even if a two-year-old bird might look a little rough around the edges, they still catch my attention. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t miss their presence. I just wish they didn’t have to be such jerks. They aren’t quite as deeply needed for my corporeal form as fresh water, but like beer and pizza, they make my life quite a bit better. Now time to go enjoy a slice, a pint, with a side of wildness.

 

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CD Neighbor
CD Neighbor
3 years ago

I’m not sure that there is an actual nest down behind the UW stadium, but a pair of adults definitely hunts from there and I spotted them, I believe, feeding a fledged, but still young, one there last year.

Ariel
3 years ago
Reply to  CD Neighbor

I think I saw that pair at Lakeview cemetery last weekend! Which is of course not that far from the UW stadium, as the crow flies. Or the eagle flies.

Ryan Packer
Ryan Packer
3 years ago
Reply to  CD Neighbor

For many years there’s been a nest at Talaris, which is being redeveloped into suburban tract homes so hopefully the nest won’t be too disturbed in the future.

CD Neighbor
CD Neighbor
3 years ago
Reply to  Ryan Packer

I pass that corner of the lot often. Thus far, at least, the strip of trees and vegetation along 41st where the nest has been in the past, hasn’t been noticeably disturbed.

Brian
Brian
3 years ago

I have seen the local crows mobbing eagles on Capitol Hill a couple of times in the last year. I wouldn’t worry about the eagles driving off all of the other birds that make a home of the hill.