I have just finished my first 82 pages of the text. Myles Lamont, who has been my closest associate building nests will be adding his contributions, and several of our specialist climbers and HWF directors and keenest supporters, like Mike Seear, Larry Dorosh, and Brian Mitchell who have accompanied me up the trees or building pole nests, and a host of our photographer friends, including Christian Sasse, also a director, will be contributing photos. If any of you have collected particularly interesting screenshots, please send them to us to consider. This will probably be 128 pages of 8.5 x 11 full color.
Since this book is well illustrated with so many of our famous eagle residents, who may offer particular memories to many of you, I am offering this advanced pre-production offer. While this book is aimed at the wildlife manager, the developer, the environmental consultant, and of course conservationists, it is very focused. I do not anticipate a huge sale for such a specialized book, but it may well be a guide to building eagle nests around the world – not just for our bald eagles. The insight it offers to locals wishing to entice their eagles to be as “effectively managed” in their area as in British Columbia, or insights into how they may encourage a bald eagle into their neighborhood, may induce you to support such ‘marvelous happenings’ in your area.
This book is going to be relatively expensive to produce. We have not yet decided on the list price, but I know the final price will be more than the $25.00 +$10.00 shipping fee we are offering this book to our followers as an ’advanced copy.’ You will get your copies autographed by Myles and me. The full payment and any donations submitted will be given to the HWF. If you submit $50.00 or more as a donation to the HWF, in addition to the above book & shipping cost, you will receive a Tax Deductive receipt for that part. We plan to have the book out in the early 2025 spring – but it might make it close to Christmas.
The attached ‘totally’ objective review has been done by me!!! What can I say? I wrote to include some of the details we would normally give to ‘real reviewers’ upon publication and thought I would include it here.
Thanks all,
David Hancock, Director
Hancock Wildlife Foundation
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Review: “Why & How to Build a Bald Eagle’s Nest” by David Hancock
It might be because you want a pair of bald eagles nesting in your backyard! Perhaps an existing nest is in the path of a road or a development – so how do you move this one? Maybe you just want your river, pond, or lake to host this magnificent eagle a home! Whatever the reason, here are the practical details on “Why & How to Build an Eagle’s Nest.” It works if your area has fish available. Most of North America does!
One of our artificial nests on a pole with a sunshade – it produces young every year.
Since I got my first eagle at age 14, now at 86, and a lifetime of studying eagle behavior behind me, that still gives me a few years to help get one into your neighborhood! This book describes how to hold governments and developers accountable for retaining existing eagles and their habitat, but more importantly, it gives the details of how to build them a wonderful home – a better nest than they can build. This alone can be the incentive to invite them into your area.
After 18 years of experimenting with moving nests that were in the road of developments, we have not had a single territory lose a year of production. No platform has ever fallen and the success rate of attracting eagles to a new replacement nest is 100%. We also have the necessary insurance, engineered designs and wildlife permits.
Eagles love to exist and if they already nest in your area it is simple to create them a fine new home – either an alternative nest to move to, or for another pair. If they don’t yet nest in your region, and you believe your area now has a good fish supply, the missing element is likely a nest – or a tree that will hold one. That is easily resolved. This little book gives conservationists, wildlife managers, and developers the reasoning and the practical skills to either build a nest in a tree or on a pole.
Our website, in addition to showing many live-streaming videos of nests, enables you to follow some of the eagles that we have equipped with Trackers to show where they go every day, and it shows dozens of examples of nests if you don’t like colorful books: https://www.hancockwildlife.org/. It also goes into detail about this fish eagle’s lifestyle.
Happy eagle watching – in your backyard. You can order the book through this site.
David Hancock, Director
Hancock Wildlife Foundation
email: davidhwf@gmail.com
Below right: Offshore inter-tidal pole nest at Mosquito Creek, North Vancouver, BC