Bald Eagle Update, April 13, 2020.

With the current state of Covid-19 interrupting the world, and Discover the James' Bald Eagle Tours coming to a screeching halt, the present seems like a good time to write. No more excuses. It's been far too long since I had (made) the time to write about the resident eagles of Jefferson's Reach, a stretch of river on the James that holds eight pair of eagles. To be specific, Jefferson's Reach starts at a large sycamore tree on Hatcher Island and ends at a large sycamore tree on the east side of Jones Neck. They are both the tallest trees in their respective areas and each marks the edge of an eagle's territory.

I motored my pontoon boat, the Discovery Barge II, slowly through Jefferson’s Reach, seeking out each pair and watching their flight patterns, activity and actions hoping to determine the success or failure of each pair's breeding season.  For some, it was easy to see their success, or failure, while others were a little harder to determine. Given the incredible comeback of the bald eagle on the James River and how much harder it is to have successful breeding seasons year after year, I’d say the eagles of Jefferson’s Reach are right on par. The abundance of mature bald eagles looking for territories is making it increasingly difficult for the current resident eagles as these ‘intruders’ or ‘interlopers’ are causing problems by either crushing eggs, killing chicks, or keeping the adults away from the nest too long for other forces to that cause failure such as storms and cold temperatures. In the photo above and to the right, Barb & Treble's two offspring perch on the nest. They are hard to see, so look close.

The resident eagle's eggs hatch in March which coincides with the return of the anadromous fish that migrate into the James. Anadromous fish live in saltwater and migrate up into freshwater rivers to spawn. Hickory shad, American shad, herring and alewife fill the river system by the millions and the food supply for many birds is multiplied. While eagles are scavengers and will eat just about anything, their primary diet is fish. Another welcoming change (for osprey lover’s as well as the eagles) at this time is the return of the migratory osprey who begin to arrive in early March. By now, mid-April, all the osprey are back at their nesting sites, some with full nests built high and strong on channel markers and trees along the river bank.  Many, but not all osprey, are already incubating eggs. April is a time when the osprey and bald eagles are at full odds.  The eagles are keenly watching the osprey hunting and will leave their perch as soon as an osprey is successful in their hunt. An eagle will chase down an osprey with a fish and one of three things will happen.  The eagle will take the fish, the osprey will get away with the fish, or the osprey will drop the fish and neither will feed on it. Additionally, the osprey are hyper territorial since they have just laid their eggs, meaning the interactions between these two raptors is at the highest right now and will probably remain this way for weeks to come.  

Out of the eight pair of eagles in Jefferson’s Reach, two pair have failed.  Nesting success or failure is noted by the overall activity of each pair in their territory and whether or not they are returning to the nest over long periods of observation.  Dark Beak, a resident male, seemed poised to finally have a successful breeding season in 2020 after three years of fighting to keep his small territory viable. Last spring he lost his mate, butd last fall, Dark Beak accepted a new mate after an amazing two-week courtship. A female came into his territory and ultimately won the trust (and heart) of Dark Beak as the two spent time in separate trees, each day becoming closer until  they were both perched side by side, wings touching, on a large sycamore branch.  Soon after their courtship they built a nest, and on December 24, his new mate was named Merry in the spirit of the season.  Today, Dark Beak & Merry are inseparable as seen in the photo above.

During Dark Beak's three years on the river, he never built a nest until after accepting Merry last fall. They started construction of a nest at the end of November, 2019, but gave up on that initial location and began construction of another nest on a nearby tree. Neither location seemed like the best choice as both were on the outer branches of a large tree. Not ideal, but some eagles choose to build on the outer branches as opposed to constructing closer to the trunk and the connecting larger, more stable branches.

As I motored my pontoon boat around the bend, and into their territory, I peered towards the thin neck of land between the river and swamp, hoping to see a white head sticking out from the nest. I kept looking but the nest was gone. It had fallen completely out of the tree. In mid March, Dark Beak & Merry had not yet laid eggs and I was beginning to wonder if they would at all this year.  Perhaps they did, but it would have been on the later side of laying. Either way, they will not be raising eaglets this year ….  hopefully 2021 will be their inaugural success. As of April 12, 2020, they had not started construction of another nest, or at least not within the visible range of the river.

The other pair showing signs of a failed breeding season is Varina & Enon, another incredible pair of resident eagles. The female, Varina, has been solid like a rock over the course of the eleven years I've been observig her.  Enon is her second mate over that time. Both have been perching far from their nest, with no return trips to the nest, indicating a failed breeding season. On my last three visits to see them, over the last month, they did not have activity at the nest and for the second year in a row, it seems they did not even lay eggs.  2019 & 2020 marks the first time this pair had two successive failed seasons. Three years ago, in 2018, Varina & Enon were the only pair in Jefferson’s Reach to have a successful breeding season and they fledged two eagles from the nest.   Every other pair of resident eagles in Jefferson’s Reach failed, creating the worst breeding season of the eleven I’ve observed. 2018’s poor reproduction was more than likely due to three winter storms that tore through the area at the time the eagle’s eggs were hatching, a most critical and venerable time for the hatchlings. Varina & Enon’s nest is big and old and is still nestled in a pine tree about a half-mile from the river. 

Four pair of eagles showing definite signs of success are Bandit & Trey, Henry & Duchess, Barb & Treble and Baba & Pops. They are all making forays back to their nests at regular intervals, and most of the time, only one eagle is present on the river (meaning the other is probably on the nest).  Occasionally both eagles are perched on the river hunting for food, while keeping a sharp eye out for intruders as well as an eye on their nests. I was surprised at the size of the eaglets on the nest. They were bigger than I would have thought, but then again, they grow so fast. In the photo, you can see the size of the Barb & Treble’s eaglets as they rise high on the nest. The only other nest where I could observe eaglets on the nest were the newest pair of eagles, Henry & Duchess. I believe they have two offspring on the nest as well. In the photo to the left, Henry was flying back to the nest with a small shad but decided to eat it in flight!

After a few moments of taking the sights and sounds in I made a cast in the same area I caught six fish the evening before.  On my first cast, the great topwater fishing continued … I caught another smallmouth bass … a 12-inch fish. “How can this morning get any better?” I wondered. I made a few more casts with no strikes, so I walked down the shore to the end of a grass bed. With my feet at the edge of the water, I made a cast downriver close to the bank, and as soon as my buzzbait hit the surface I began to reel it back in, but something held onto the end of the line so I pulled back and ‘set the hook’ in case it was a fish.  For a moment, I thought I had snagged the branch of a submerged log until my rod bent further and line peeled from my reel.  A huge smallmouth bass engulfed the lure as it hit the water and after an incredible battle and lots of leaping from the river, I grabbed onto a wonderful smallmouth bass at the river’s edge. I scooped her up in my hands and asked Warren to take a quick photo so I could release her back to the river. The 19-inch fish was the finest bass I had seen on the trip. 

Eventually the Tripper was loaded and we began to paddle down river. This day would lead us though Springwood, Buchanan, Arcadia and a mile from Alpine. 

For as beautiful as the river was this day, my highlight was watching Warren fishing.  He started fishing about five years ago and has slowly but surely become a great fisherman.

Photos Stories ...  Top Left: Early morning 19" bass caught on a buzzbait.

Middle Left: Paddling downriver somewhere near Buchanan, VA.  Buchanan is a quaint little town with a great livery called Twin River Outfitters.  Click here for more info on Twin Rivers.

Middle Right:  Warren's bass he caught on the first cast after changing to a new lure due to a Mr. Squiggly.

Lower Left:  Warren's bass he caught on his second cast after the Mr. Squiggly incident.  Good fish!!!

Bottom Right: Some of the gear and clothing we continued to try and dry.  The late rains came in and we moved everything we could under the tarp. All the clothing remained as wet as it was when it was hung up.