They are nesting in the new or yonder nest, henceforth to be known as N2. N2 is about 533 feet or 162 meters east of N1, by the side of Trout Creek. It is 60-70 feet up in the center fork or crotch of a cottonwood tree. The image below shows both nests and the trout hatchery.
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| N1 and N2. The eagles are currently nesting in N2. Click the image for a larger view. |
We didn't measure it exactly, but it is smaller than N1. I'd guess about 4 feet in diameter. This yields a circumference and area of about 12.5 feet. Neil and I were just barely both able to fit into it, and we hung all of the equipment of the side with leashes and anchors.
How deep is N2?
Another estimate. I'd say 3 to 3.5 feet. It was much easier to climb into than N1.
What types of trees did they raid for the railings?
The available kind. Primarily cottonwood, judging from the trees surrounding it. The neighborhood also contains maple and oak, but cottonwood is the predominant tree.
How would you describe the tree trunk joining where N2 is?
N1 was out on a limb, away from the central fork of the tree. N2 sits directly in the tree's center fork or crotch, where the trunk splits to form smaller branches.
How many corn husks were in it when you put up the cams?
None! We installed the cams on August 31. The eagles hadn't yet started fall courtship or nestorations.
Did you leave a food offering when you put up the cams on N2?
We didn't. Fortunately, Mom and Dad didn't mind.
Do the cams bother them? Does the IR light bother them?
The eagles are unable to see IR light. I've got a blog post explaining it here: http://raptorresource.blogspot.com/2012/03/what-is-infrared-light-and-why-cant.html. If you don't want to read the long explanation, you'll notice that the eagles' pupils don't respond to the IR light by contracting or expanding. They can't perceive it and we wouldn't either if the camera wasn't mapping the image down into the visible spectrum for us.
The cam doesn't bother the eagles either: it is fairly small, up above them, and painted drably to stop reflection and glare. The globe is highly smoked enough that I can't see through it. If the eagles can, it is no more alarming to them than anything else - leaves blowing, branches tossing, cloud shadows, squirrels and other animals, and people on the bike path. Their world is filled with movement and sound.
Did you work on N1's cams? If so, did you see anything that would help speculate on why they left N1?
We didn't go up into the tree - those cams are still running from 2012. We don't know for sure why they left, but there are two theories.
- Theory one: That's what eagles do. In one study of 318 eagle territories in Alaska, 45% of eagles studied had more than one nest on their territory. In another study of 924 territories, eagles were found to have an average of 1.5 nests in their breeding area. N1 was built in 2007. Maybe it was simply time for them to build a new nest. We all know how much time they spend working on the nest.
- Theory two: The old nest was built farther out along the branches of the cottonwood. Its weight was causing it to tilt toward the outside. This could have caused the eagles to abandon it in favor of a new nest.
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| Coming down the tree |
After making sure no eagles were in the area, we fired a crossbow loaded with monofilament line over our target branch. We used that to pull a four mm cord, which was used to pull an 11mm climbing line. Neil used a frog system and I used a grigri + ascender + carabiner. Neil got up into the nest in about a minute. It took me a little longer. Here are two video links that show the basic technique:
- http://youtu.be/NJHBQVkBxj0 (grigri + ascender)
- http://youtu.be/ZTai7Gd5SaY (kroll frog system)
Coming down was interesting since Neil's rope wanted to pull him away from the tree. We wrapped webbing behind him and I pulled him into the tree so he could run the cable. This worked extremely well.
How many cams are there?
Two - one PTZ and one fixed cam. The PTZ is a mini PTZ and the fixed cam is also quite small. They are painted drably.
Where are they mounted?
The nest is cradled in the center of the tree. The limb on the south side of the trunk shoots out and up. The cameras are mounted a little over where the limb turns up. I'm guessing they are about four feet above the nest.
What kind of cams?
Despite having helped install the cam, and don't know much about them. Both were purchased from KT&C and the PTZ is a mini-outdoor cam.
How long did it take to install the cams?
Bob had everything ready to go and it went very quickly. It took about three hours from the time Neil started up his rope. We got up, installed the two cams, and rappelled down, fixing the cable as we went.
Did the eagles notice or mind?
They did not. As I wrote earlier, We installed the cams on August 31. The eagles hadn't yet started fall courtship or nestorations. The cams themselves are small and painted drably to minimize reflections or anything else that might disturb the eagles.
