[Tweeters] Bald Eagles nesting near Renton Airport

[Odette B. James]

I am looking for information about the pair of Bald Eagles that, for some
years, have been nesting on the west side of Rainier Ave. S, near the Renton
Airport.  These eagles have regularly been perching in a deciduous tree at
the edge of Lake Washington, in one of the trailer parks just west of the
mouth of the Cedar River.  Their nest failed last year - the female laid
eggs and the pair incubated them, but the eggs failed to hatch.  After the
nesting failure, the eagles were at their regular perch much less frequently
than in the past.  Now that they have returned to the edge of the lake, it
appears that one of the birds is a replacement.  The current pair does not
as seem strongly bonded as the previous pair, and they also seem to disagree
on the best perch site at the edge of the lake.  The pair sometimes perches
in their usual tree near the trailer park, sometimes in a tree at the edge
of the lake to the east of the mouth of the river, and sometimes there is
one in each tree.  And commonly they do not perch close to each other.
There also is no clear evidence that they are going to use the nest they
used last year.  Yesterday I saw one of the birds on the nest for a short
time, but the other bird did not join it, and it does not look like they are
working on adding to it.  They don't seem to have eggs in any nest yet, as
both are still spending a lot of time perching at the edge of the lake.  The
situation may be complicated a bit by the fact that there are several young
eagles that appear to be coming into breeding age in the area - a week or
two ago, one of those youngsters tried to mate with one of the adults, but
she rejected him.

 

If there really is a new nest site, I would love to find it.  I live in the
Lakeshore retirement community on the shore of the lake, and my apartment
has a good view of both lakeside perch trees used by the birds.  I have been
watching them, though not as regularly as I should have been, for several
years.  I even had the pleasure of watching one of the adults give a fishing
lesson to an immature a couple of years ago - I had no idea they did that.
At any rate, I really would like to understand what is happening with my
local pair at present.  Help?

 

Odette James

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