2015 Tidewater Bald Eagle Breeding Season
Red Skies at Morning, Black Rail Warning
July 2, 2015Grace Flies to Mobjack Bay – Virginia July 3, 2015
July 6, 2015
This is a summary of the American Bald Eagle breeding season in Lower Tidewater Virginia, the cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk and Virginia Beach. These are known nests that with the assistance of several “citizen scientists” The Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) was able to collect data with respect to activity at these known Bald Eagle nests that are shown on the CCB Bald Eagle Nest Locator. This is a summary of these 30 known nests:
1 – Nest that was not active
6 – Nests that failed or were abandoned
3 – Nests that were active but production results not known
7 – Nests that observations were not made because of remote locations
13 – Nests where 24 eaglets were produced and fledged:
VB1104 Saw Pen Point – 3 eaglets
VB1101 Muddy Creek – 2 eaglets
VB1102 West Neck Creek Natural Area – 1 eaglet
VB1402 Thoroughgood White Acres – 2 eaglets
VB1301 Stumpy Lake – 2 eaglets
VB1201 Linkhorn – 2 eaglets
VB1501 Owl Creek Navy property – 1 eaglet
VB1404 Kempsville & Princess Anne Rd – 3 eaglets
NO1001 Algonquin – 2 eaglets
NO1501 Hunt Club Point – 1 eaglet
NO1502 Mason Creek – 2 eaglets
CP1501 Battlefield Blvd – 1 chick
CP1503 Chesapeake Yachts – 2 chicks
These bald eagle fledglings are now out flying about the various neighborhoods where they spent about 11 weeks on average peering out of their nests watching all our human activities. They are now getting a closer look at those activities by sitting on roof tops and in peoples yards. Here are a few examples:
The three Kempsville fledglings looking out over their urban neighborhood – photo by Jim Yanello
Kempsville eaglet viewing vehicle traffic at Kempsville & Princess Anne Rds – photo by Holly Smith
Kempsville eaglet on rooftop in Fairfield neighborhood, Virginia Beach – photo by Duane Noblick
Saw Pen eaglet in a neighbors yard – photo by Reese Lukei, Jr
9 Comments
Thanks Reese for your dedication and hard work to provide these statistics! You rock!
Wonderful update. Thanks, Reese!
I agree with Jim’s assessment. You’ve been inspirational to so many and helped educate hundreds of followers of the original Norfolk Botanical Garden eagle cam, and your posts continue to educate and inspire . Thank you for your many contributions, Alpha Eagle. 🙂
Reese thank you for keeping such meticulous records on the nesting activity in our area! You are an invaluable resource for us. We are encouraged by your enthusiasm and instructed by your in depth knowledge of these birds. As Ann said, thank you Alpha Eagle!
Thanks, Reese for all you do for the Bald Eagles and wildlife in our area. Always the mentor and teacher, you are truly the Alpha Eagle.
Great post Reese! I love the first picture. Those are three hot babies! Thanks for compiling these numbers. How does this year compare to previous years?
Response – Chris, I have not yet compared to prior years. Will try to find time to do in the next week.
Response 2 – Chris, in 2014 there were 9 pair that produced 18 eaglets.
Thank you Reese so much..this was wonderful reading….How about NorthWest River area down in southern Chesapeake ? I have seen Eagles perched in trees and flying on the drive into Va. also I get a fly by once in a while at my pond..I’am not too far from the Va/NC line..
Response – Pat, the nest on the Northwest River is on the CCB Nest Locator, but we were not able to observe the activity because of its location. Can only be seen from the air or by boat.
Average 2 last year with 9 nests and 1.85 this year with 13 nests. And we know one of those with only 1 was a 1st year mum (HE). Reese, what about Sterling’s nest? Is that one of the ones listed? And how is HK’s nest listed…is that the inactive nest?
Response – Sterling raised two young at Stumpy Lake. HK’s nest is one that failed to produce because Sterling moved to Stumpy Lake.
Its exciting and wonderful to read specifics about all your local nests!
We are going to need a class in observing multiple nests cause I am struggling with 6, all of which are not sucessful in production. Using the nest locator this week to familiarize myself with Jim Y eaglet/nest photos (checking distance to Stumpy Lake from Honeybee), I spent an hour looking at the layout of nests. You guys (Norfolk/Va Beach) are rivaling Florida in quantity of nest locations! So many eagle’s nests! So many Lakes! Thanks! PS, I suspect/hope HK is dad to Stumpy Lake eaglets.