Okay, this is NOT about bad behavior and/or snowy owls.

In fall 2006, two bald eagles set up a nest in a cottonwood tree on my road (Rivershore Road, Snohomish, toward the dead end). They nested successfully from then through summer 2011, with a fledgling each year seeming to make it to fall. In last October's windstorm, most of the nest that I could see came crashing down on the road. One of my neighbors and I swept the sticks and feathers and moss and grass over the river dike so the property owner, who truly dislikes most wildlife and wants the trees down, would see the nest had come down (plus it was so much big debris I couldn't drive over it in my little car and it's a one-laner so I couldn't drive around it).

The birds appeared to start energetically rebuilding in November with new material, and the nest has visible mass again. However, I almost never see the birds during the day as of late December. I'll see them several nights a week when I walk the dog, sitting together still on a branch in the tree next to the nest tree, but never in the nest tree. For the last several years, they have either been working on or sitting in the nest at this time of year. Any ideas what might be up?

Thanks!
Monica Van der Vieren
Snohomish, WA