As of this week, 81% either contained eggs or hatchlings. (Photo by Tom Kajiwara/Provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife)Īccording to Reesa Conrey, an avian researcher with Colorado Parks and Wildlife who is conducting a four-year study tracking bald eagles, there are 117 active bald eagle nests across the Front Range. Visitors can view the nest with binoculars but must keep their distance.
A bald eagle couple at Barr Lake State Park welcomed two eaglet hatchlings recently. Vrain generating plant currently has two eaglets and is covered by eagle cams. This month, one eaglet died when wind brought the nest down yet again.īarr Lake State Park also has had tree collapses that killed bald eaglets in recent years, but currently there is an active nest there with two eaglets that hatched this month. Last year, two eaglets there died of unknown causes. That couple produced two eggs the following year, but the cottonwood tree holding the nest collapsed and the nest crashed to the ground, killing an eaglet. The interloper took up with the male of the nest, which at the time was covered 24/7 by an “Eagle Cam” maintained by the city of Westminster. In a widely publicized 2020 affair, a female nesting at Standley Lake was attacked and driven away by another female. Richardson/The Denver Post)īald eagles do tend to be the social media darlings of raptor nation, though. An immature bald eagle flies along I-70 near Rifle after feeding on the carcass of a dead elk on Feb. The Jeffco raptor program also monitors other nesting birds of prey, including peregrine falcons, great horned owls, prairie falcons, red-tailed hawks and American kestrels. Six of the eaglets “fledged,” meaning they matured to a point where they were capable of flying from the nest. Last year the volunteers monitored golden eagle nests in seven far-flung locations, five of which produced seven hatchlings. Jeffco issues a raptor monitoring report annually.
Golden eagles are North America’s largest birds of prey, bigger even than bald eagles, although they don’t provoke as many headlines. Then the eagle that had been tending the nest, likely the female, took off in majestic flight toward North Table Mountain, carried by wings likely measuring six to seven feet across. BOTTOM: Michelle Desrosiers, a senior wildlife ecology specialist for Jeffco Open Space, scans the ridge of North Table Mountain while observing a nesting pair of golden eagles in Golden. “An hour and a half later,” Van said, her long wait over, “we have drama.” TOP: A golden eagle flies from its nest while its mate stands on the rim after a nest exchange in Golden on Thursday, April 13, 2023. Were they feeding an unseen eaglet? Maybe, but it was impossible to be sure. For a few moments, male and female sat perched on the rim of the nest. In what is known as a “nest exchange,” the other occupant of the nest - likely the male - returned from a hunting trip. “After all these years, you’re cheering them on.” “You kind of get invested with the couple,” Van said. Was the resident eagle pair incubating eggs in this nest perched 500 feet above in a rocky cliff band at the top of the mesa? Or, had an eaglet already hatched, as typically happens in early April? Answering such questions was the reason Van was at her volunteer post, observing a nest she has monitored for six nesting seasons.
With little happening above and time passing slowly, important questions hung in the air. Peering through a telescope, she could catch occasional glimpses of one eagle, but it was well-camouflaged with its rocky surroundings. Tuesday, May 2nd 2023 Home Page Close Menuįor more than an hour, monitoring a golden eagle nest high on South Table Mountain from a roadside observation post more than 500 yards away had been uneventful, if not downright tedious, for veteran Jeffco Open Space volunteer Teresa Van.
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