Nest History

Eagles have been nesting in this rapidly developing part of Surrey for at least 20 years, and cam sponsors Dawson & Sawyer were the second developers who approached David Hancock for advice on how to develop a region that contained an active bald eagle nest.  There were some challenges – the original nest fell down, the eagles moved, a new nest with cameras was provided in the fall of 2018 (full story here) – and happily the eagles adopted the new nest built for them in British Columbia’s first bald eagle reserve.  (A bald eagle reserve is a section of forest large enough to support an eagle nest which is set aside by a developer who is clearing land adjacent to it.)

2019-2020

Male Sur and female Res moved into the nest that had been built for them, and made it their own – and laid their first egg on camera on March 7, 2019, with a second egg three days later, on March 10.  Both eggs hatched, and eaglets Dee and Ess (pronounced like the letters D and S) fledged successfully.  The eaglets were named in honor of Dawson & Sawyer, the developers who helped make the Surrey Eagle Reserve and this nest possible.  The pair returned in 2020 and laid their two eggs a little earlier; both hatched, and Thor and Loki (named by owners of the Eagles townhome complex next to the Reserve) both fledged successfully.  Loki had a mishap a few days after fledging and ended up dangling from a powerline; she was rescued and spent a couple of weeks in rehab where it was determined she had no serious injuries (and that she was probably female, based on her weight).  She was released near the nest, but did not stop by to wave to viewers before heading north; she was banded (blue band on left leg with silver D over 3) – and equipped with a tracker (link for interactive map) (link for discussion on our forum).  She moved into Alaska at the end of August 2020 and the cell towers there have a different frequency so we may not hear from her until it’s cold enough for her to head south to BC.  Thor was last seen on the nest around the time the tracker showed Loki heading north – so they may not have flown up together, but I think they got the same signal that it was time to go. ~JudyB

2021

Sur and Res returned in the fall and laid two eggs a little earlier than the previous year; both hatched successfully, and the chicks originally designated as SR5 and SR6 were named Tiku and Tucca by students from ÉÉC Saint-Joseph in Port Colborne, ON.  Everything turned out fine in the end, but we had a scary couple of days. Tiku tried to land next to younger sibling Tucca and they both fell off the branch by the nest and down into the maze of branches underneath. Tiku managed to get balanced on a little branch and flew off about 20 minutes later, but didn’t make it back to the nest until the following evening. (The adults were feeding him while he was off the nest.)  Tucca had a harder time – though only a day and a half younger, he was at least a few days behind in development, probably because there were some days when food was scarce and only the older eaglet was fed. Less experienced and less strong, Tucca ended up further down among the branches, with no clear path big enough for an eagle to fly out. And Tucca was there for two of the hottest days ever in BC, with no way for the adults to get to him to bring food. For two full days, Tucca called for food, and flapped as much as he could among the branches, and moved around a bit, looking for a way out. And at 10:05 am on June 26, Tucca officially fledged, flying out of the nest tree and landing on a nearby Douglas fir. This was not only his first flight but also his first landing – and like many a young eagle before him, he grabbed the branch and spun around, ending up upside down. He let go, and landed on another branch, also upside down. And then (I love this part of the “Tucca on the Move” video), instinct kicked in, he turned his neck in one of the impossible looking ways eagles can so his head was right side up, picked a destination, turned his body to match his head as he was letting go – and flew off!  And disappeared for more than a day. Late in the evening of June 27, local observers reported that they could see both fledglings perched in different trees – and early on June 28, they both came to the nest.  (More details and videos here.) They were both around for at least two weeks; the last time an eaglet was seen was July 19 (probably Tucca); the adults last visited the nest on July 22, though we saw adults in the area occasionally until the end of July, with calls heard a couple of times in mid August.  2020 eaglet Loki had a successful first year, coming back from Alaska, spending some time on Vancouver Island and Washington State, and heading back to Alaska to celebrate the first anniversary of her fledge; as of mid-September, she hasn’t checked in for a month, but she was “off the radar” for two months last fall, so I’m hoping she’s back in the same area with more salmon than cell towers.

2022

2022 was a year of changes.  Res and Sur returned as usual in the fall of 2021, but a male intruder challenged Sur on November 12 – and that was the last time we saw Sur.  Ever the optimist, I’m hoping that Sur realized he couldn’t win against a younger, stronger opponent and chose to leave and find a new territory.  Res and the new male were seen together a few days later and seemed to be getting along (although the young male was as likely to try to grab her food as to bring her food gifts).  On December 23, we observed them doing some work on the nest, after which she flew off; that was the last time we saw Mom Res.  A young female arrived at the nest at the end of December; there were several eagles around, so we’re not positive that she is the one who eventually became the new female here, but I think it’s likely.  They did not prepare the nest or lay eggs this year – and it’s quite common for new pairs to have a “getting to know you” year before settling down, and both these adults appeared to have some gray shading on their white feathers initially, suggesting they are young.  By late summer they were doing some work on the nest, before leaving for the salmon runs as most coastal eagles do in the fall; we agreed that they were no longer “new” and temporarily named them Surrey Male (SM) and Surrey Female (SF).  There’s a lot more information on the forum here.  We are hoping they will return – and perhaps raise a couple of chicks in 2023.

2023

Our young pair returned in October 2022 and immediately began some serious work on the nest.  By early March, the nest was looking quite respectable, and the young male was actually bringing food for the female instead of trying to grab food she brought, suggesting that they were serious about nesting.  We (the folks who have been controlling the cams and making most of the posts on the forum) agreed they should have names, and after some discussion the female was named Brit, for British Columbia, and the male was named Rey, for Surrey Reserve.  Brit laid what we believe is her first egg ever on March 24; Rey didn’t get a peek until the next morning, and (humanizing a little) it seemed to take him a while to realize what it was and what he should do, but he caught on fast.  Forum posts with pictures and videos start here.  There was a second egg three days later, and both hatched successfully, SR7 the evening of May 1st and SR8 about 16 hours later.  (While these are the first chicks for Brit and Rey, they are the 7th and 8th to hatch in the territory since we’ve been watching.)  Older eaglet SR7 was named Lof (an old Norse word for praise or glory) and younger SR8 was named Tyr (for the Norse god of courage).  Unfortunately, Tyr needed a lot of courage – when she was about a month old, we noticed she was having trouble moving around the nest and wondered if she had a leg injury, and over the next six weeks she seemed to fall further behind in development and size, though there seemed to be plenty of food, and Lof was usually willing to share with her smaller sibling.  On July 19, Lof bumped into Tyr and knocked her off the nest; she was quickly rescued and brought to OWL, where they said she was one of the thinnest birds they’d ever seen; they did all they could, but she died the night of July 21-22.  Lof fledged on July 31 when she was 91 days old; she did not return to the nest, but local observers thought she was likely with the adults, who were not seen on cam more than a couple of times after Lof fledged.  There was a necropsy done on Tyr; the cause of death was emaciation, and they found Aspergillus or black mold inside of Tyr; Aspergillosis is a condition that takes away a lot of nutrients/calories from the affected animals because the inflammatory response is so robust, so animals affected with it are commonly emaciated or in poor body condition.  Because there is a lot of information about Tyr’s life, the decision was made to have her remains prepared and accessioned into the Cowan Tetrapod Collection at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC.  There is much more information about Tyr on the forum, with a summary starting here – https://forum.hancockwildlife.org/viewtopic.php?f=114&t=640&p=607946#p607972.  Until the necropsy, most of us observers had thought that Tyr was male, based mostly on size – so were surprised to learn that she was female; we still believe Lof was female, based on size compared with the adults, but she could be a large male.  We are not absolutely certain which one hatched first – they hatched less than a day apart so were close in size with no easy way to be sure which was which.

2024

Brit and Rey returned in late September and set to work preparing their nest, and Brit laid their first egg of the season on March 27.  We expected to see a second egg three days later, but Brit laid her second egg a bit over two days later; it was premature, laid before the shell had finished developing, and collapsed almost immediately and was consumed by Mom Brit.  We watched to see if there would be a third egg, but there was not.  Happily the egg hatched normally, and solo eaglet Kova (an Inuit word meaning strong, courageous, powerful, determined) fledged successfully on July 24 (82 days old).  Unlike Lof, who didn’t return to the nest after fledging last year, Kova hung around longer than many fledglings, finally leaving on August 15 (104 days old – almost 15 weeks).  The adults were last seen the previous day, Rey in the morning and Brit in the afternoon; they each brought Kova a fish, and were each promptly chased off the nest by him (or maybe her), as often happens once eaglets reach full size.  Please see the Notable Dates post on the forum for lots of additional information.

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