This is the time of year when eagles get serious about their nesting season. Actually they started doing some rebuilding in January if not earlier, repairing damage done by weather conditions since the last nesting season. This involves bringing a lot of sticks and limbs back to the nest site and weaving them into the old nest. I have watched eagles fly back to their nest with some limbs that seem impossible to carry.
The female generally stays on or near the nest, although she will at times go out and collect building material, while the male searches the surrounding area for just the right branch. Sometimes he picks up a branch that broke off a tree and fell to the ground. Other times he searches out a particular dead limb and will try to detach it from the tree by chewing on and pulling it with his legs. Eagles will also sometimes gather other types of material, such as cattails, aquatic vegetation or, in one case that I witnessed last year, a whole corn stalk including the root system.
Their nest of course grows bigger each year and eventually may topple the tree with its weight and the help of high winds.
Eagles prefer large, open-canopy trees with at least three support limbs on which to build the nest. Their nest is generally built in the 70-foot range and many times in a dying tree that offers an open passageway into the nest. Just before egg laying time, generally in February or March, they will line their nest with dry grasses, to insulate the eggs and provide cushioning on the sticks.
Recently a nesting tree on the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Tonawanda Wildlife Management Area went down in a windstorm. The good news is that the affected pair of eagles got busy and built a new nest and are presently incubating eggs. A nesting tree on the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge also fell. That particular tree had been used for many years although it was dead for the past 20 years; and that nest was the subject of the first-ever eagle recording effort, which I’ve written quite a lot about over time. Many years after the original camera quit working, a new camera system was installed last fall, and it was a great setup as people could watch the nest happenings on Facebook, their home computer or smartphone. Alas, the tree fell only two weeks later. The eagles quickly began building a new nest, within view of the new camera system, and soon had a base built — but recently work basically stopped and there hasn’t been much activity. Maybe the eagles have another nest project going somewhere else that we don’t know about yet.
The public still has an opportunity to view another eagles’ nest in New York state, though, near the Warsaw area south of the Alabama Swamps. It’s a super set-up and the birds are now incubating three eggs. Search online for “Ott Family Eagle Nest Cam” and check it out.
Another new nest last year outside the Alabama Swamps was successful and I spent a lot of time photographing and observing the activities in it. This year I’m concerned because the eagles haven’t been active around it so far. Hopefully they’re just running late.
Avian flu is becoming an area of concern. The poultry industry has been hit extremely hard and now the virus is popping up at dairy farms. This past week a lot of snow geese were found dead in the Finger Lakes region, and of course waterfowl, because of their migrating habits, can spread the disease more widely.
At present, avian flu is not considered a threat to humans, but that could change as viruses have a way of mutating and thus changing what they can harm. Authorities advise the public to report any bird or mammal deaths to the Department of Environment Conservation (1-844-332-3267) and not to handle or destroy the animals.