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Greater Vancouver Fraser Valley: Urban Eagles During my 1960s studies, only one and sometimes two pairs of Bald Eagles nested in the greater Vancouver, BC area—one pair in the city’s spectacular Stanley Park, and the other occasionally on the University Endowment Lands. Today over 100 pairs nest and raise young in the same Greater Vancouver area—many nesting no more than 30 feet (10 meters) above busy streets and beside occupied houses. South of the Fraser River in Ladner, Delta, Surrey and Langley, I have 73 known nesting sites. The bald eagle has become a city dweller of spectacular proportions. How did this happen? Since we did not band the city nestlings the following hypothesis is conjecture but very probable. The city-bred eaglets were obviously acclimated to seeing people below and around their nest. Obviously these people were not harmful, just part of the landscape. As these eagles matured and looked for suitable nest sites they sought out a nesting site like the one in which they had been raised. The city parks and adjacent riverways and farmland were perfectly acceptable habitats and they simply chose the largest trees. I suspect all the greater Vancouver City eagles are descendants of those few nests in Stanley Park, Lighthouse Park and along Dollarton on the north shore. How much fun it would be to genetically test this hypothesis. Nesting in and around cities and adjacent farmlands does however present some problems. An eagle’s nest can be 6 to 10 feet across (2-3 meters) and weigh 500 to 2000 or more pounds (1/4 to 1 metric tonne). It takes good solid mature branches to support such a nest and many eagles fail nesting because the nests blow down or break the tree limbs. While in many remote areas the eagle might choose trees 150 feet (50 meters) or more high, in and around Vancouver there are few such tall trees with suitable supporting branches. The result is we have a population of bald eagles adapted to nesting in very low trees and very close to people. Many private persons with eagles nesting in their yard rightfully are quite protective of these spectacular neighbors and do not encourage too many people around the nests. On the other hand many of these nests are very obvious to the passerby and can be readily observed. We just caution respecting both the birds and nearby neighbors by not observing from too close or overstaying your welcome. Bald Eagles in the Vancouver area, of southern British Columbia set up their territories late September or October through January and February when the area is also occupied by hundreds of wintering eagles from more northern areas. From early February through March the two to three eggs are laid. Hatching starts early to late April after approximately a 36 day incubation period. The young stay in the nest about 11½ to 12 weeks. Shortly after fledging the young are abandoned by the parents or simply leave the nesting area independently and head for northern rivers where the earliest fish runs occur providing easy food for the inexperienced young. I have never seen adult eagles feeding young outside the nest. The baby fat of the nestlings is undoubtedly their food reservoir until the bonanzas of the salmon rivers are reached. In fact, all the nestling birds, the parents and non-breeding birds that have stayed in the area during the summer leave the area by late July or early August. In late September early October the adults return to stake out their territory and make nest repairs. Mating takes place from the day of their arrival on their territory and through out the nesting season. [Bald Eagle Home] [Eagle Biology] [Eagle Festivals] [Vancouver Area Eagle Nests] [Eagle Links] Copyright © 2003 Hancock House Publishers. All Rights Reserved.