[EBB Sightings] Sibley Eagle Nest

According to my calculations, with eagles observed setting on the nest
in early April, any chicks present (assuming that the nest wasn't
abandoned) would be around fledging age (i.e. fully feathered, and ready
to leave the nest). According to Stan Moore, a frequent, informed poster
on the Ornith list, and another, local, raptor expert, there is no
reason that eagles wouldn't breed every year, assuming an adequate food
supply. Since rodents are having explosive growth this year, and the
sere hills of Sibley are ground squirrel heaven, I don't imagine that a
lack of food would be a limitation for these birds. He also mentioned
that they would be most likely to abandon the nest early in their
breeding cycle, i.e. just after egg-laying, which would've been back in
April, when there was much movement of heavy machinery close to the nest
area. Our small birding group that observed the eagles back in April
also encountered an EBRPD person who was closely monitoring the nest, so
they probably already know the answer to this question, although they
may be loathe to share that knowledge with us, especially if it portrays
them in a bad light. Independent confirmation of whether there was or
was not a successful nesting of these birds would be most beneficial to
our future arguments against the Sibley campground.

Debbie Viess

>From Alan Howe:

  Here are the Sibley nest directions (written last
year when the nest was busy):

Take the paved road (to the right of the restrooms)
which goes to the top of Round Top. For quite a ways
it will go relatively straight. Once it starts
climbing in earnest, it does an "s" curve, has another
relatively straight stretch and turns 90 degrees to
the left (northwest?). At this turn, you can look
straight ahead to an area of standing snags left from
a fire some years ago. Kestrels and others can
sometimes be seen in these dead trees. (If you walk
across the grassy area toward a fallen log and look
uphill, angling to the left, you can sometimes see one
of the adult eagles perched in a dead tree.)

After the 90-degree turn, the road is again straight
and climbs uphill. Part way up this stretch, you will
walk right under the nest, but it's pretty well
hidden; you can see the bottom edges if you know where
to look, but it's not obvious. The road curves to the
right and straightens some and there is a road sign
(facing uphill-away from you) on the left. Pretty much
across from the sign, on the right of the road, there
is a short path leading to a couple of downed trees.

Here it gets tricky. If you stand on one of the logs,
look south (?) maybe 30 degrees to the right of
perpendicular to the logs. You have to look past some
of the nearer trees and across a semi-open area. (If
you're toward the right end of the log(s), you'll look
past one sizeable tree on your left and a number to
your right.) The nest is in one of the farther pines
(fir?) up a ways in a major intersection of branches.
It's easiest to see-and know what you're seeing-with
binoculars. It can be hard, at first, to distinguish
the dark brown of the adult bird from the
nest-especially if its head is behind one of the
upward-reaching branches/trunk. As the chicks grow,
you'll sometimes be able to see their light down,
especially when they're awake and active.

If you're lucky, one of the adults may swoop in across
the semi-cleared area to your left and up to the nest.
I've also seen one fly in from the dead trees down the
slope.

Happy birding, all.
Alan Howe
North Oakland


		
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