Subject: Green Lake (Seattle) eaglet fledged
Date: Jul 14 22:29:28 1999
From: Martin J. Muller - MartinMuller at email.msn.com


Dear tweeters,

This past week I've been checking the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
nest in Central Woodland Park on the southwestern shore of Green Lake,
Seattle, twice a day in order to try and determine when the eaglet fledged.

Today, 83 days after hatching, when I arrived at 6 AM, I found an empty
nest. I had less than an hour to spend searching (listening) for the eaglet,
and failed to locate it. I did see the adult female both in the nest tree
(briefly) and out on the island, bathing extensively and sitting in a tree
on the island drying out afterward.

This afternoon around 2 PM I checked again, starting at the nest, and sure
enough the youngster was standing in the nest, looking as if it had never
left.

Because of the widely-spaced visits I made it is possible that the eaglet
fledged a few days ago and that it managed to get back to the nest the same
day it fledged. That's not the norm (based on 12 years of watching urban
eagles), but not unheard off either.

I expect the youngster will take a few days of roaming through the trees in
Woodland Park before it ventures out across the lake to the small island in
the lake. I expect that will become its favorite hang-out. Good view,
foraging grounds all around, little disturbance (except on sunny weekends
when people illegally go on the island; but even that appears not to bother
the eagles, since the trees have dense foliage and obscures them from
below).

In general fledged eaglets spend about 1 month in their parents' territory
before striking out on their own. It's going to be fun to watch this
youngster learn the "ropes" from its parents. I can't wait to see it try and
steal a fish from the Caspian Terns (Sterna caspia) frequenting the lake
these days. These past two summers Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus), presumably
from as far away as Duwamish Head (9 Miles/14.5 km), came and fished Green
Lake. It will be interesting if that behavior will be influenced by the
presence of the eagle family on the lake.

Cheers,
Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at email.msn.com