SHE PAUSES AND SLOWLY turns her head. Fixing us with a deliberate stare, there is a moment of intense scrutiny. She then serves notice that our presence is tolerated by returning to her work. Two hungry chicks need feeding.

We stand on a steep hillside overlooking an eagle’s nest on Galiano Island, one of the southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia. Over the nesting season, from the end of April to the beginning of August, we watch the busy parents and growing chicks. The bald eagles’ reputation as fierce predators thoroughly contrasts with the gentle care and protectiveness they shower
on their babies.

THEIR NEST IS A DISK-SHAPED mass of branches about 6 feet in diameter, resting in the limbs of a tall Douglas fir on a cliff by the waterways and islands of Trincomali Channel. When we first see the nest, an adult eagle is placidly sitting in the middle. Then the bird stands, and using its beak and a scaly yellow foot with long sharp talons, rotates an egg with gentle nudges. Over a month-long incubation, eagles turn their eggs hourly, almost like clockwork.

As the parent stretches before settling

down again, a little gray fluff ball pokes up its head. One eaglet has already hatched! Two or even three eggs in a nest is not unusual; the bigger questions are whether the eggs will hatch and the chicks survive.

A week later, there are two eaglets keeping their parents very busy. One adult is with the chicks at all times while the other fishes. The female stays in the nest throughout much of the first days, with the male relieving her every few hours. If another eagleor a turkey vulture or raven flies into the neighborhood, the nest adult becomes extremely vocal. It throws back its head and calls piercing high-pitched cries of warning to its mate and the intruders.

The chicks sound a raucous chorus of their own when they are hungry. In the nest, the adult tears off tiny chunks of fish and gently drops them into the chicks’ waiting mouths. After feeding, the babies are tucked under Mom’s feathers for about a 30-minute nap. Then it’s mealtime again.

WHEN WE WATCH FROM OUR vantage point, the eaglets are sitting up taller, waving their stubby wings for balance. Their gangly yellow feet look 10 sizes too big for their bodies. They move awkwardly and constantly topple over. The ever-vigilant parents fish, but not always with success. One day, hearing flapping overhead, we see a disgruntled, soaking-wet adult sitting atop a tree, spreading its wings to dry. No fish.

At the end of May, we’re saddened to find one chick dead. The mortality

rate among eagles is high—only one in 10 eaglets reaches breeding age, which is five years. The surviving baby in this nest looks strong. As a parent holds a fish with its talons, the chick tears at a piece of skin, biting with its sharply hooked, black-tipped beak. Standing, the eaglet flaps its wings and looks very much the fierce little predator. We hope it will live.

AS ONE OF THE FASTEST
growing birds, an eaglet will grow about 40 times its birth weight in six weeks. By mid-June, its outstretched wings almost span the nest. The chick regularly feeds itself and exercises more. Dark feathers replace the chick’s pinfeathers on wing edges and at the shoulders, giving it a mottled look. The eaglet’s voice has strengthened and it loudly demands food. It stares at us, unblinking, when we arrive at our viewing spot. Eagles have vision many times sharper than a person.

IN JULY, THE EAGLET IS DARK brown with most of its feathers grown in. A bald eagle’s head and tail don’t start turning white until around three years and are fully white by five to seven years.

The chick is left alone more frequently, although one parent always perches close by. With all three birds in the nest, it is rather crowded.

By the end of the month, the eaglet stands on the edge of the nest. It has finally grown a body to match the size of its feet, and its beak is dark with just a hint of yellow. When the fledgling hops onto a branch above the nest, we know it will soon fly. Guided by the parents, the eaglet will become an expert hunter in a few months. It could live up to 30 years and hopefully raise chicks of its own. Fully grown, eagles stand 30 to 40 inches tall, weigh 8 to 12 pounds, and have a wingspan up to 7-1/2 feet. Females are usually the larger of the pair.

Eagles mate for life and return to the same nest yearly for breeding. All being well, these parents will nest here again next year. We too will return, ready for the eagle-eye scrutiny they’ll give us while we watch their baby raptors.

Northwest Travel Magazine March/April 2007