Note:  The two photos in the story are by Ted Jurkuta who came out on the Discovery Barge II a few days after this story happened. The two offspring are perched on the same sycamore in the story below. The female is on the left and male on the right. Size here tells the story as females are larger than male eagles.  The image of the new fledgling flying, is the female. Look for more info on these eagles in the next post!!

The river’s ecosystem is amazing and offers surprises at every turn. On rare occasions, a powerful gift comes along, and this is a story of one of those gifts. This past Sunday, heading out on Father’s Day was extra special as thoughts of fishing trips with my Dad filled my head. I settled into the Discovery Barge II, backed her out of the slip and began a morning of discovery with a good friend Frank and his family. We were golden, like the morning light. For one father, his persistence and dedication delivered us that special gift … an unexpected event that gave me goosebumps on and off for twenty-five minutes as I slowly comprehended what surely was a gift from the river gods.

The wildlife was active and life filled the air, water and shorelines. The fog was heavy, but not too much so as we made our way slowly downriver. Eventually we were greeted by eagles and something I didn’t think possible.

Based on logical observations and activity of the resident bald eagles breeding season over the last two months, I would have bet money all of the eaglets had fledged as of June 6. Being in my eleventh year watching the eagles of Jefferson’s Reach, I “again” realized that every season is a learning season. Five years ago, I would have said, “The end of May and the first two weeks of June are when the eaglets fledge, (fly from the nest for the first time).” Over the past couple of years, things have changed a bit and I have to amend that statement to say, “The eaglets of Jefferson’s Reach fledge between May 10 and into the first two weeks in June.” This year, new resident eagles Henry & Duchess fledged two eagles, the first, Lorna on May 10 and Mondo (her sibling) fledged a few days later. Lorna fledged eleven days earlier than any I had previously seen over the eleven years. Last year, Barb & Treble, another new resident pair fledged an eaglet on or just before May 20. At the time, this was the earliest fledgling by one day … Virginia & James had a fledgling on May 21 about four years ago. At that time, it was the earliest by a week. 

For the first seven years of eagle watching in Jefferson’s Reach there were five pair in six miles and today, three and a half years later, there are eight pair. Henry & Duchess are resident pair #8 (most recent: arrived in January 2019). Barb & Treble are resident pair #7, (arrived in October 2016). The sixth pair of resident eagles, Dark Beak & Merry, are a story in themselves.  Dark Beak has been here the entire time, somehow maintaining his territory without a mate until Merry, who came in last Fall, became his mate. They built a nest this year, and seemed to be making headway towards a successful breeding season, but their nest fell. Maybe next year.

Getting back to the unexpected event … we cruised out of the slip and into the unknown. Looking at great blue heron in the fog, and listening to cardinals, prothonotary warblers and yellow billed cuckoos kept us busy when suddenly Bandit appeared out of nowhere. She flew out of the fog and perched nearby. About five minutes into talking about her storied history, a juvenile eagle flew out from the tree line nearby, about 150 yards away. This young bird flew over the river and tree line on the other side directly towards Bandit’s nest … “Bandit is going to call out and send that intruder a warning call!” I said but she did not call out …  and for a brief moment I thought, “Perhaps that’s her fledgling?” and the next thought was, “No way, can’t be.” Bandit had not been making trips to her nest, a vital activity to keep eaglets fed, healthy and alive. Observing her actions over the past two months became increasing difficult to determine whether or not she had success with breeding. It was clear early on that she had activity at the nest, but this activity slowed to a crawl and she literally did not go to the nest but twice over the past four trips to see her. Those couple of trips to the nest were just enough to keep my hopes alive that she had eaglets still. During the last observation, on June 6, she did not go to the nest and I had resolved that her breeding season was a failure. Interestingly, I had also noted the absence of her mate, Trey, over the past month … another oddity.

About ten minutes into our encounter with Bandit, her mate, Trey flew in from the deep fog just south of us. He flew to his favorite sycamore tree and perched. As I was explaining to Frank and his family about Trey and his recent absence, something happened. From a distance, we heard the unmistakable screeching of fledgling eagles.  “NO WAY” I thought and spun my head back towards Trey and saw two eaglets fly towards him and landed near him (Dad) on this Father’s Day. The larger fledgling (probably female) landed just below Trey and her sibling, a smaller eagle (probably male) landed just to the side of Trey. The screeched and called as they perched magnificently in that sycamore. 

I was processing what was happening and just couldn’t believe what was happening … Bandit & Trey had a successful breeding season, and they have two chicks!! What a roller coaster ride thinking the ‘success’ then ‘failure’. Goosebumps were at 100%!! Just goes to show … as much as I think I’m reading what’s happening out there, time is what really tells the story and all you can do is make a best guess along the way and continue to learn from every observation. It was a top five moment for me on the river to see those two eagles fledge. Quite honestly, Bandit was right on par for the timing of fledging eaglets … the middle of June.  Wow.

What also makes sense is that Trey was missing. He was surely at or near the nest most of the time, which is out of sight from the river. His presence at the nest perhaps gave Bandit more freedoms from the nest, but both parents share that workload. The first successful breeding season she had was with Trey in her sixth breeding season. Trey did all of the work … incubating, feeding, etc. There was not one observation or photo of Bandit with her first offspring. She just didn’t have anything to do with it. Two years later (three years ago) during her second successful breeding season, she was at or on the nest quite often, feeding and incubating. She progressed as a parent between her first and second successful breeding seasons. Naturally, I thought she would have progressed more during this third successful breeding season, but that did not seem to be the case, hence my assumption that she had a failed breeding season. Boy was I wrong, and am so glad!  

“Another glorious morning on the James River” was my first thought once out of the slip. I shifted into forward, throttled the outboard engine and headed into the magic of Jefferson’s Reach. The wind blew from the North and the glow from the morning sun lit the surrounding perfectly. I was right … glorious.

It was just Lynda and I on the Discovery Barge II, ready for, well …. discovery!  The river was quiet initially, with no prothonotary warblers calling out or resident kingfishers who frequently flitter, chatter and hunt in the first bend of the trip. And no sighting of Bandit or Trey.

Next it was onto Henry & Duchess’ territory and our hopes of seeing their two fledglings. We made the sharp turn and instantly saw Mondo perched along the south-side of the river. He flew off, out of sight, into the wetlands that surrounded their nest tree. We scanned both shorelines and just upriver from where Mondo had just left … there she was, Lorna, the other fledgling eagle from this territory. She, unlike her brother, stayed and as we got closer, could see the morning sun lighting her brown feathered head, while a large branch put the rest of her body in the shade. It’s very obvious who is who with these two. Lorna, the female, is much larger than her sibling, Mondo. Lorna looked around, moving her head up, down and side to side, eventually flying across the river, calling out the entire time. “Cheeee, cheeeeee, cheeee,” from shore to shore, landing on a very old and sycamore tree, at the end of Henry & Dutchess’ territory. A few hundred feet away is a massive pine tree, half fallen, hanging over the shoreline at a forty-five degree angle. This pine tree is the beginning of Bandit’s territory and the space between the pine and sycamore is the buffer zone between the two territories. In order to survive, ultimately this no-fly-zone has to be honored or fights between eagles will certainly occur.

Shortly after Lorna landed in the Sycamore, Duchess flew in and landed just a few feet to left of her. Moments later Mondo appeared from the swamp, crossed the river and flew along the shoreline just above the trees. Lorna left her perch, joined him in flight and the two soared together, free and wild. Both called out and and played in mid air as one would fly down at the other causing it to turn upside down and flare their talons. “So young, and already showing signs of advancement” I thought.  Young eagles have to learn quick. In another two months or less they’ll be gone for good, on their own wandering the Chesapeake Bay watershed and beyond for the next four to five years becoming mature bald eagles. If they survive that long, once fully mature, they will be able to find a mate and secure their own territory.

Varina & Enon made their first showing in weeks and it was great to see them, although I wondered where they had been. Mid-May to mid-June is the time the young eagles fledge. Often times, the parents go missing during this time, at least from within sight of the river. It could be they are just over the tree line feeding on a dead deer, or just out of sight for whatever reason. But, I wonder if they are more likely to leave the territory at this point in their annual life cycle as this is the time, the eaglets fledge and perhaps as they gain confidence in their ability to fly, they leave the territory by mistake and the parents must follow to protect and make sure the young eagles can make it back safely. Bald eagles seem to do certain things they only do during a particular time of the year. For example, right now, bald eagles are less likely to take an easy meal. An example would be a fresh, dead fish on the surface of the river. Instead of grabbing it, they watch it and wait for an osprey to snatch it off the surface and then the eagle will chase the osprey to steal the fish. When an eagle has young to teach, it makes sense to wait and chase the osprey because they are showing/teaching the young eagles how to get food by stealing from an osprey. Whether an eagle pair has young or not, right now, they will wait and chase osprey as oppose to grabbing a much easier meal. It must be in their DNA to teach this and they do wo whether they have young or not. Chasing an osprey is such an energy drain and it can last minutes. That’s a lot of wing beats … hard, fast, tiring wing beats.

We did’t see Virginia & James either, and like Varina & Enon, they have been absent most of the spring. They are rarely in their normal perching spots and seem to be off this year. It was about a year ago I suspected the male eagle, James, was a new mate to Virginia. In the past, when a new eagle replaced an existing one, it took some time to figure out, but became so obvious a new eagle was present, there was no question about it. With the case of Virginia & James, even a year later, I can’t say with full confidence that a new male eagle has taken over. Something is amiss … maybe it’s just me.

Downriver a bit further we entered into Dark Beak & Merry’s territory. We saw one of them flying around, back and fourth from one end of the territory to the other. This bird was on patrol and not stopping or landing. One thing is for sure … as the eagle flew past a small patch of trees on the west side of the river, a kingbird flew out, gave chase, flying down at the eagle, landed on its back and rode it for 100 yards. “Ah-ha, the kingbirds are back and nesting. Yes!” I said. So for the next several weeks, when any eagle files near these trees, these kingbirds will give a rodeo style show that’s incredible to see. On another note, I find myself writing the male's name either Darkbeak or Dark Beak ... I'm not sure which I like better, but starting to think Dark Beak is the way I'll write his name as long as he is around.

Not far away we entered into Rebecca & John’s territory. This pair, has a failed breeding season. I remained hopeful, but there just does’t seem to be any activity at the nest. Today we saw John flying out, chasing an immature intruder. He tried to call out at one point, and once he did, I knew it was him. John lost his voice, or ability to make the ‘eagle call’ last year. All he can do is make small cackles. BUT, he did manage to eek a loud squeak at one point, which is more than he’s been able to do for over a year now. I wonder if his voice box is healing and his ability to make the unmistakable eagle call is coming back?  I hope so and quite honestly, knowing how many eagles are out there now, wanting territories, and understanding how much of a weakness not having the ability to audibly communicate is, I thought he would be replaced, injured or killed by now.

Last week, Barb & Treble’s nest was completely empty, meaning their two eaglets had fledged. As soon as we crossed the buffer zone and into their territory we spotted a fledgling on the east side of the river … and then there were two. Both were flying together, and calling out much like Lorna & Mondo. it was awesome as Barb & Treble were watching them fly around. All four eventually left the river and landed in trees too far away to be seen, but not too far to be heard. We could hear both screeching for their parents to bring them food.

Baba & Pops were not to be found today, so the hopes of finding their second eaglet will have to wait for another week. Again, it was reported they had two eaglets in the nest. One has fledged so far with the other more than likely in flight or perched watching the sun go down over Jefferson’s Reach. On the way back, we did find Bandit and she was busy at the downriver end of her territory … protecting it, probably from Henry & Duchess, or that pesky eagle from the south-side of Dutch Gap who makes forays into Bandit’s territory far too often (and has been doing so for most of 2020). Perhaps that is why Bandit more than likely has another failed breeding season. Each week offer little or no hope she has success at the nest and today showed no signs of success.

So the total count for fledgling eagles this year in Jefferson’s Reach is five. Out of the eight pair, four have failed, three have fledglings, and then there is Bandit & Trey, whose hope is getting thinner. Baba & Pops still may have one other fledgling, but for now, there are five. As for Eagle Parents of the Year Award, Henry & Duchess have a slight lead over the other two successful pair.

Parting notes include seeing the first great egret of the year in Jefferson’s Reach. As they start to arrive in bigger numbers, white dots will scatter the shorelines in the early morning light. The osprey chicks are getting bigger. In just a week they went from too small to see over the nest rail, to half their body is over the nest rail. Journey & Traveler, in their second season on the river have three young osprey in their nest. Last year, when they first arrived, they took too long to decide on where to build their nest and ultimately failed in their breeding season. This is their first successful brood so far and already have a three piece. Across the river on another channel marker is Walter & Annie, one of the older pair of osprey on the river. They again have two young osprey on the nest and seem to be a few days younger than Journey & Traveler’s chicks. Both pair were busy at the nest tearing apart a fish and feeding their offspring small piece by small piece. Until next week …

Capt. Mike