Bald eagle pair may have left nest (A news helicopter buzzed the nest last weekend)
Bald eagle pair may have left nest
Peter Fimrite
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Bird enthusiasts are worried that the first nesting pair of bald eagles seen on the San Francisco Peninsula in nearly a century has pulled up stakes.
Birders from across the Bay Area have been tilting binoculars and telescopes in every direction, but the majestic birds have not been seen since Wednesday, an absence that doesn't bode well for any eggs that might be in their nest.
"It would suggest to me that maybe the eggs weren't viable or maybe there weren't any eggs in there at all," said Dennis Prout, 64, a Redwood City member of the Sequoia Audubon Society, which has been providing interpretation for eagle watchers. "I'd be very saddened by that."
The eagles have been expecting babies since March, when they were spotted building a nest in a large Douglas fir tree in a cove on the northern portion of Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo County.
Both the male and female have recently been seen working the nest in shifts and taking turns hunting, a clear indication they were tending to eggs, which biologists were expecting to hatch any day now.
Voyeuristic birders have set up shop on the reservoir frontage road, hoping for a glimpse of the hatchlings. One bird lover was so enthused, he jumped into the water and tried to swim over to the nest, according to witnesses. A news helicopter buzzed the nest last weekend, to the dismay of park officials and bird enthusiasts.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/21/BAND1O5S04.DTL#ixzz1sjPTxLPx
The pair of nesting bald eagles have been expecting eaglets since March. Their absence from the nest, however, points to trouble.
Photo: Sarah Lenz
A bald eagle soars above Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo County, where a pair of eagles has built a nest. If just one egg hatches, it would be the first bald eagle chick in the county since 1916.
Photo: Ray Trabucco
= new reply since forum marked as read
The South Bay isn't exactly prime Armed Redneck Moron territory. Don't be silly. 
but there's a pair near my house that has choppers going within 100 yards all day long plus a freeway so close you could hit it with a rock. I dunno how many eaglets have fledged out of that nest, but it's a lot.
Bird nests fail, and sometimes it's a mystery why. 
