Is there a right answer, what is best these bald eagles?

[Laurielee]

http://www.redding.com/news/2007/dec/18/raptors-set-on-nesting/

This has been front page news almost daily now for a month since Caltrans put that cone on their nest, their home for the last 5 years. The problem is, its right next to the freeway, and come summer, Caltrans will begin driving pilings in the river. Their thought is this will adversely disturb the baby chicks and possibly make the eagles flee.
The eagles are trying to nest now beause they lay eggs in Jan/Feb. From what I read the chicks will leave their nest by summer and and be gone by the time the big road work starts. These poor birds started building a nest right next to the old one, Cal trans went up and ripped it out.

I dont know if there is a right answer, but I think, just let them be and let nature takes its course

Laurie

[Laurielee]

Well it looks like the eagles won for now


http://www.redding.com/news/2007/dec/19/cone-will-be-removed-so-bald-eagles-can-return-nes/

[lhall]

Off topic, but we were in Redding for a few hours last summer. We were caming at Lassen National Park and drove into town for lunch to escape the rain that flooded our tent and let our stuff dry out. It's a beautiful area.

Nice story.

Leigh

[Laurielee]

you must have encountered one of our rare summer rainstorms. Isn't Lassen absolutely gorgous? Its one the least visited national parks in the country, its never crowded and very few people visit, we love taking day trips there.

This eagle nest is literally 30 feet from the bridge that crosses Sacramento river.

[lhall]

Yes,

There was a light drizzle that lasted 5-6 hours!! It really didn't help when the ranger drove through the campground and said 'this is so rare!' We had a small lake under our tent and discovered a hole in the floor. I also had a surgical bandage on my arm (surgery 3 days before vacation) and had to keep it dry.

We weren't too upset when the tent disappeared. My brother shipped it back to us in a box with a sleeping bag. We got the sleeping bag.

Here are some pictures to share. My husband and I went up the volcano took 4 hours round trip. We also spend some time at Lake Tahoe and Subway Cave.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66076726@N00/sets/72157600026478305/show/

[Laurielee]

wow, thats great you did that hike up to the volcano, Thats something like 3 hours straight up at 9000 altitude. I have to go run some errand so I am going to see if the cone is down yet. Its so cool, I saw one of the eagles flying around from my office window last week. Their nesting area is about 1/2 mile from there

[lhall]

10,457 and the last mile is almost straight up. 2.5 hours to go up, 1.5 to come down.

That's so cool that the bald eagle's are so close to where you work.

We toured Cape Canaveral in 2005 and much of that land is a nature preserve. There's a nest very close to the main road, and all the tour busses go by it. Their nests are huge.

Leigh

[mbrogier]

I'm glad that they decided to leave the birds alone. They're smarter than we give them credit. If next summer they decide to leave, they'll build elsewhere. I doubt they'll leave their chicks.

I've only seen a bald eagle once. Last Christmas Dad took me to see where he's building his new house/horse farm, and on the way back to where he lives now we saw an eagle eating on a fresh deer carcass in a field. We couldn't get close enough to get photos, but it was still cool to see one up close. It was hunting season, so Dad figured someone just injured the deer and didn't hunt it down to put it out of its misery. The eagle just enjoyed a free lunch.

[Jalapeno]

I'm not at all surprised (your second post Laurielee)....I work for a large engineering firm and we do a lot of caltrans work...nothing will stop a project faster then environmental issues.

In order for this project to even get to construction there was an extensive environmental assessment done BUT chances are it was done years ago. After the environmental document(s) were done the project went to design and now construction...this can be a long process. These birds have probably nested long after the environmental document was done and now Caltrans is doing the best they can to fix the situation. Believe it or not getting environmental clearance from Caltrans can be VERY difficult, they don't take environmental issues lightly. That can be one of the biggest obstacles for cities wanting to construct a project...getting the environmental clearance from Caltrans.

[Laurielee]

oh boy, I know about those enviromental issues. For some reason, most of our area is considered wetlands, to me they are just rain puddles that dont drain, that causes many projects to be delayed for years and years. You are right, this had to have been approved years ago, and they just started nesting there about 5 years ago. This section of the river is the largest spawning grounds for pacific salmon so they only have a tiny window to do work in the river before the salmon run. Thats why the eagles like it, endless supply of food.

Laurie