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Nest Updates and Maps

City of Vancouver Nesting Bald Eagle Update,
July 29, 2008

How Fast They Grow Up!

Merilees Trail	1 chick fledged, 1 chick fell from the nest - One of the two chicks from this nest fell while trying to fledge and was severely injured.  It was transported to the Wildlife Rescue Association by Parks staff where it was deemed too injured to be rehabilitated.
Cathedral Trail	Chicks Unlikely - Unfortunately, although we thought perhaps chicks were present at this site, there has been no sign of large fledgling-aged birds at the nest or in the area.
Vanier Park	1 chick fell from the nest - The one chick from this nest fell while trying to fledge and was transported to the Wildlife Rescue Association by Parks staff.  It was later transferred to OWL raptor rehabilitation facility, where it still is today.
Wall St.	2 chicks successfully fledged - The chicks are still hanging around the nest site, but they both have been seen flying near the nest tree.
Pacific Spirit Park (Imperial)	1 chick has fledged - The chick at this nest has been seen flying but is still hanging around the nest site.
Musqueam Creek	2 chicks fledged - This nesting pair of eagles fooled us by containing two chicks, rather than one as we originally thought.  Once the chicks were large enough to be visible, we noticed our error, and since then they have fledged successfully.  One chick is still hanging around the nest while the other is venturing farther away.
Westbrook	2 chicks - These chicks are almost ready to leave the nest.  They can still be seen sitting on branches nearby.
SW Marine Dr.	2 chicks - This nest also fooled us.  We were uncertain about the presence of the chicks until they were large enough to be seen.  Now we know that there are two chicks and they will soon be ready to fledge.
Hastings St.	2 chicks - These chicks are almost ready to fledge (see above photos).
Southlands	2 chicks - One chick is still hanging around the nest while the other is venturing farther away.
Monument	2 chicks - When the chicks were large enough for our volunteers to observe, they determined that there were in fact two.  These chicks will likely be ready to fledge soon.

 

[ Map of Bald Eagle Nests in Vancouver 2008 (Opens in a new window) ]

 

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City of Vancouver Nesting Bald Eagle Update,
June 25, 2008

Nesting season is at its peak and the young eaglets are starting to get restless.  Some of the chicks are already preparing to fledge but most will leave later in the summer.

At this time of year both adult eagles spend most of their time hunting and feeding the eaglets.  They are old enough to be left alone, so while their parents are away they can often be seen sleeping in the nest, fighting with each other and testing their new wing feathers.  At about 12 weeks of age they will be ready to leave the nest.

Last season 17 nests were being monitored and only 5 produced chicks, for an overall success rate of only 29%.  This season 18 nests were being monitored and 11 are believed to have chicks, so the success rate has risen to 61%.  It is clear that 2007 was just a bad year for nesting eagles in Vancouver.

The young eagles still have a long way to go.  There are many more dangers for them once they leave the nest.  A study in Florida found that juvenile bald eagles that were raised in a suburban environment and acclimatized to human features in the landscape had a lower survival rate than those raised in rural settings (Millsap et al. 2004)

Vancouver Bald Eagle Nests

Non-productive nests
(Adults in area but egg laying never occurred)

• Kerrisdale
• Pipeline Road (Stanley Park)
• Dining Pavilion (Stanley Park)

Inactive nests
(Adult eagles are rarely seen using the nest site)

• Tower Beach (Pacific Spirit Park)
• Pandora St.

Failed nests
(Incubating was seen but no chicks hatched)

• Strathcona Park
• Jericho Park

Merilees Trail	2 chicks - Fledging time expected to be around the 1st week of July and they are already venturing out on the branches around the nest (the oldest of all the chicks).
Cathedral Trail	Chicks suspected - Adult activity at the nest but eaglets yet to be documented.
Vanier Park	1 chick - Fledging time expected to be around the 3rd week of July.
Wall St.	2 chicks - Fledging time expected to be around the 4th week of July.
Pacific Spirit Park (Imperial)	1 chick - Fledging time expected to be around the 4th week of July.
Musqueam Creek	1 chick - Fledging time expected to be around the 4th week of July.
Westbrook	2 chicks - Fledging time expected to be around the 4th week of July or as late as the 3rd week of August (due to poor visibility the hatching date was not observed).
SW Marine Dr.	Chicks suspected - Adult activity at the nest but eaglets yet to be documented.
Hastings St.	2 chicks - Fledging time expected to be around the 4th week of July.
Southlands	2 chicks -Fledging time expected to be around the 4th week of July or the 1st week of August.
Monument	Chicks suspected - Adult activity at the nest but eaglets yet to be documented.

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City of Vancouver Nesting Bald Eagle Update,
May 20, 2008

Breeding season is in full swing in Vancouver and SPES volunteers have reported lots of activity at many of the 18 monitored bald eagle nests in Vancouver.

Inactive Nests

There are only two nests in Vancouver that appear to be completely inactive this year.  The Towers beach and Pandora nests have both remained inactive this year.  The Pandora nest has produced many chicks in the past, but this year there was almost no activity at the site at all.  It is thought that perhaps the pair from this nest had moved to the new Wall Street location.  The Towers Beach nest may be an alternative nest for a pair of eagles in the area, as it has not been used for the past two years.

Non–Productive Nests

Despite eagle pairs maintaining constant activity near these nests, including mating, bringing sticks and hanging around in the vicinity, two pairs did not incubate eggs at all this year.  The Pipeline Road and Dining Pavilion nests in Stanley Park are not productive this year, although the eagles can be seen nearby almost every day.  This is the same as last year for the Dining Pavilion Pair, but the Pipeline Road pair was successful at fledging a chick last year.  The Kerrisdale nest also appears inactive this year despite frequent sightings of the adults.

Failed Nests

Unfortunately there are two eagle pairs this year that have already proven to be unsuccessful in their attempt to produce offspring.  The Jericho and Strathcona Park pairs both incubated eggs for over a month but did not hatch any chicks.  In the past the Jericho pair was very productive but last year they were also unsuccessful after losing their young at 6 weeks old.  The Strathcona nest was not used last year, but this pair had also been quite successful in earlier years.

Productive Nests

There are 7 nests in Vancouver where eagle pairs have recently hatched chicks:

• Merilees Trail (Stanley Park) – This pair is nesting in the northern end of the largest blowdown area in Stanley Park.  The eagles built a new nest in an old Douglas fir tree and they have successfully hatched two chicks this year.  The chicks probably hatched around April 13 and they are already starting to flap their newly feathered wings.

 

• Imperial (Pacific Spirit Park) – This nest surprised the volunteer monitors this year.  It was believed to be inactive because there was very little activity seen throughout March and April.  However, on May 2 it appeared that adults were bringing food to a newly hatched chick.  This nest is very high up so it is likely that the incubating parents were simply not seen during the incubation period.

 

• Cathedral Trail (Stanley Park) – although this nest is very hard to observe, it is likely that its eagle pair has successfully hatched an offspring, as they have become more active in recent weeks.

 

• Vanier Park – This nest is currently thought to contain just one chick.  Last year this pair hatched two chicks which unfortunately died at two weeks of age.  This year’s chick hatched around April 25 so it is already longer lived than its siblings from 2007.

 



The Hastings street eaglets.
Photo by Martin Passchier

• Hastings – This nest has successfully produced two chicks this year.  It is hoped that the eagle parents will have better luck than last year, when they lost at least one chick at a late stage in the season.

 

• Wall St. - This nest was also newly built this year and the diligent parents have successfully hatched two chicks around May 1.  This nest is in an industrial area in the Port of Vancouver and is watched closely by nearby residents and workers.

 

• Musqueam – This nest also fooled eagle monitors as the incubating parents kept so quiet and stayed so low that they were undetected until hatching occurred around May 6.  The chick(s) have not been seen yet, but the parents can now be seen bringing food to the nest.

 

• Southlands – This nest was not used last year, but the eagles could be seen attentively incubating eggs throughout April of this year.  The pair has successfully hatched two chicks.

Nests with Undetermined Status

Some of the eagle nests in Vancouver are not easily observed, and more time is needed to determine if they have successfully produced chicks this year.  The Westbrook and Monument nests in Pacific Spirit Park have been active but chicks have not been observed yet.  The SW Marine Drive nest likely has at least one chick again this year, but this has not yet been confirmed.

Eagle Nest Protection

In BC, the Best Management Practices for Raptor Conservation during Urban and Rural Land Development in British Columbia is the best tool for deciding how to protect bald eagle nests and habitat.  The raptor BMP is not law, but a set of guidelines for developments and activities taking place near raptor nests.  The excerpt below pertains to urban eagle nests and can be used by city planners, developers, and others as a tool when eagle nests are encountered.

The BMPs must be considered for each nest on a case by case basis as many of the eagles have chosen to build nests in locations that do not fit within the BMP.  For example, the Hastings St. nest site cannot have "a buffer of 1.5 tree lengths, consisting of undisturbed natural vegetation" because the eagles built their nest in a parking lot.  However, it is still important to "keep machinery, people, and pets away from nesting birds…"

Section 34(b) of the BC Wildlife Act is the law that provides year-round protection to a select group of birds’ nests that include those of bald eagles, ospreys, and great blue herons.

For more, please see Raptor Nest Best Management Practices Excerpt

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City of Vancouver Nesting Bald Eagle Update, April 15, 2008

Bald eagles living in Vancouver have begun nesting for a new season.  Most of the pairs have spent the winter using their nest tree as a feeding and roosting site and in January and February they began courtship and mating behaviour.

Frequently throughout the winter, eagles can be seen attacking the over-wintering waterfowl that line our seashore.  Birds seem to be the primary food source for these eagles, unlike eagles in other parts of North America which mainly eat fish.  One local study found that eagle diets included 52% birds (mostly gulls), 34% fish, 12% marine invertebrates, and 2% mammals (mostly carrion) (Vermeer et al. 1989).  Glaucous-winged gulls were by far the most frequent prey choice for the eagles in that study.

Eagles cannot digest bones, shells or feathers and so they regurgitate these into pellets, which can be found at the base of their nest tree.  Under Vancouver eagle nests, crow, gull and rock pigeon feathers are the most common items found, but sea ducks, cormorants, Canada geese, grebes, fish bones and mussel shells are also commonly identified.

This year there is a new nest that has become part of our monitoring program but a separate one has also been lost.  The Burrardview Park nest was damaged during the winter 2006 windstorm and has since been completely dismantled by the eagles.  The Wall Street nest was first brought to our attention by an observant SPES volunteer and we have since learned that although it was newly built this year, it may have been a site that was used in the past.

Merilees eagle bringing a small flounder
to the nest (April 13, 2008)
Photo by Mark T. White

We now know of 19 bald eagle nest sites in Vancouver.  It is unclear if the number of nests is growing steadily every year or if we are just more aware of where these birds are nesting.  We do know that when eagle populations (along with many other species) were in decline due to the buildup of harmful chemicals in the environment, there were far fewer eagles.  Since the ban of these chemicals in the 1970’s, raptor populations have been rising and urban eagles are also much more common than in the past.  A 1960’s study suggested that there may have been only two eagle nests in Vancouver at that time.

How many eagle nests can Vancouver support?

At this time of year it can be very hard to tell if nests are active.  Although eagles may not been observed at the nest during monitoring, the incubating adults can sit so low in the nest and stay so quiet that they are virtually invisible.  The current status of our local nests is listed below:

1.	Merilees Trail	Chicks may have hatched in the last couple of days!
2.	Pipeline Road	Nest active, but not incubating at this point.
3.	Cathedral Trail	Nest active, but hard to tell if they are incubating.
4.	Dining Pavilion	Nest active, but not incubating at this point.
5.	Jericho	Incubating 2 eggs.  Hatch date expected to be around April 25.
6.	Vanier Park	Incubating since at least March 27th.
7.	Strathcona Park	Incubating since at least March 30th.
8.	Wall St.	Incubating since at least March 17th.
9.	Pandora	Not active as far as we can tell.
10.	Pacific Spirit Park (Imperial)	Not active as far as we can tell.
11.	Kerrisdale	Active, but the nest looks partially dismantled.
12.	Musqueam Creek	Not active as far as we can tell.
13.	Tower Beach	Nest is active, but it’s hard to tell if they are incubating.
14.	Westbrook	Nest is active, but it’s hard to tell if they are incubating.
15.	SW Marine Dr.	Not active as far as we can tell.
16.	Hastings St.	Incubating since at least March 26th .
17.	Southlands	Incubating since at least March 28th .
18.	Monument	No eagles heard or seen, but incubating may be possible.

 

[ Map of Bald Eagle Nests in Vancouver 2008 (Opens in a new window) ]

 

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