The male eagle has found another mate. Yesterday one of the people
monitoring the situation said she observed the new female bite the dead
bird. The former mate has been dead for about ten days. Her report is so
interesting that I'm including it below.

This is a fascinating window into eagle behavior. Please go to the site
to monitor these birds if you have any free time. You'll need binoculars.
Write up your observations and send them to me (respond to this email and
I will receive it). We are compiling your reports. Many people are
interested in this. The monitoring notes below are a great model to use,
showing the kind of information we are looking for -- the time of an
event, your observations, the heron's response, and any other information
you think is important. If you have a camera -- especially digital --
take photos. Whatever you can provide will be helpful. Directions are
below.

State Fish and Wildlife has decided not to retrieve dead eagle. Fewer
than 50% of the herons are incubating, meaning they are still
exceptionally skittish. We are putting the interests of the herons over
our desire to know why the eagle died. If someone is using the area for
target practice, we are very likely to see additional evidence. Please
contact Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife immediately if you see
or hear any indication of this -- 425-775-1311 ext. 111. If there is no
answer, escalate your call to the manager. And please contact me --
szkrom at juno.com.

Reminder: City Council votes today on Hearing Examiner decision. Please
attend if you can
This afternoon at 2 pm a subcommittee of the Renton City Council will be
voting on the second part of the hearing examiner?s decision. The meeting
takes place in Renton City Hall, 1055 Grady Way, Council Chambers on the
7th floor (I had it wrong in my 3/15 email).

Field trip reminder: This Saturday, 3/19, 10am - noon. This should be a
very interesting event given the situation with the eagles. A work party
follows. Please see my 3/15 email.

Suzanne Krom, President
Herons Forever


Directions to the Black River heron colony
You'll find several nearby parking lots. To get there --

>From Seattle: Take I-5 south to exit #157, Martin Luther King Way
East/900 East, which takes you east on Route 900. Stay on 900 for 2.9
miles.

The second stoplight is 68th Avenue South -- turn right. You'll go down a
windy wooded hill. At the bottom of the hill, you'll come to a stop sign.
On your left is the Black River Riparian Forest and heron colony. Drive
the equivalent of ~2 city blocks from the stop sign and you'll see the
"Black River Riparian Forest" sign on your left and the bicycle path next
to it.


>From the Eastside and Southend: Take 405 toward Renton to the
Interurban/West Valley exit and turn east onto Grady Way. Go to the first
traffic light and turn north (left) onto SW Oakesdale. Go through the
light at SW 7th, staying on Oakesdale. On your right is the Black River
Riparian Forest and heron colony. You'll see the "Black River Riparian
Forest" sign on your right and the bicycle path next to it.


**************

Follow the bicycle path to the bottom of the short hill and turn left
onto the grassy path (turn off the paved path). Follow the well-worn
grassy path the equivalent of ~one city block.

--------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 19:53:09 -0800
Subject: eagles 3-16-05
Hi Suzanne
Have you been to the forest this last week? I've gone down a few times,
mainly to see what's up with the eagles. I've
only spent a few minutes there, and have gone in behind the office
buildings. In addition to the adult male, I've seen two other eagles
there, sub-adults.

Today, however, the sub-adults are gone and the male has found a new
female for his territory. While talking with the person with State Fish
and Wildlife the day I saw you and her there, I learned that paired
eagles don't stay together all year, but they return to the same
territory. It's the territory that's important. Given the behavior of
the eagles tonight, I really expected to see the deceased female taken
out of the nest. But she remains in the nest. At any rate, here's my
notes from today:
Susan

Wednesday
March 16, 2005
5:15 to 6:40pm
Watching bald eagles tonight: I went into area behind office buildings.
No eagles at nest, deceased female still in nest.

5:30pm:
Male flew in. A few minutes later another eagle flew in and landed in
the trees east of the nest tree. The trees prevented me from seeing if
it was an adult or one of the two sub-adults who have been there off and
on since the female died.

5:45pm:
Back out on the bridge I could see the bird

..an adult female, given her
size, in the trees due east of the nest tree. I could see the male in
the nest grubbing around.

Grabbed the scope and went up on the meadow.

6pm:
Eagles flew off, flushing heron.

6:10pm:
Both eagles returned, again flushing heron. Male landed in branches west
of the nest, female perched on north side of nest. When she landed she
reacted to the body in the nest: drew her neck back, cocked her head then
lowered her beak and chittered directly at the body. Then she stepped up
into the nest, on top of the deceased eagle. Stepping back off the nest,
she reached over and bit the deceased. Immediately she drew back and
shook her head several times


..trying to get that nasty taste out!
Then she reached over to the flight feathers hanging at the edge of the
nest and bit those a little. Finally just remained perched on north side
of nest, occasionally chittering at male, who answered her.

6:20pm:
Female lifted off, flew through colony. Male followed shortly. Heron
didn?t flush.

6:22pm:
Both eagles circled back, this time heron flushed.

6:30pm
Eagles flew off again, heading west. Heron flushed again.

6:35pm
I left, too.
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