It’s bald eagle nesting season, and those nests can be massive
–Editor’s note: A version of this post was published last April
Bald eagles around the country are preparing to raise new broods and those who admire them, via live-cams or in person, might wonder just how large are those nests?
One answer is provided in a photograph that circulates each year via social media, showing a ranger sitting in a replica nest measuring five feet wide and three feet deep – the approximate dimensions of a four-person hot tub.
The photo was originally shared last in 2021 year by Forest Park Nature Center in Illinois. The Facebook post states that the replica nest is housed at Hueston Woods State Park in Ohio.
But bald eagle nests are often much larger. The Forest Park Nature Center explained that the largest recorded nest “measured 9.5 feet in diameter, 20 feet deep, and weighed almost 6,000 pounds!”
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That nest, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, was constructed by eagles in St. Petersburg, Fla. The lab’s “All About Birds” website states: “Another famous nest — in Vermilion, Ohio — was shaped like a wine glass and weighed almost two metric tons. It was used for 34 years until the tree blew down.”
Bald eagle guards nest from treetop. Photo: ©Pete Thomas
Nests are typically built in the tallest conifers. While both parents build a nest, the female performs most of the branch and twig placement.
Earlier this month, in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in east San Diego County, I captured the accompanying image showing a bald eagle atop a towering tree, guarding the nest with eggs about 20 feet below.
The other eagle was in a nearby tree, also standing guard, while pesky ravens communicated among themselves, raucously, in another tree.
Bald eagle on nest duty. Photo: ©Pete Thomas
Eaglets, after they fledge, generally spend about four years in “nomadic exploration of vast territories” and can fly hundreds of miles per day.
Immature bald eagles born in California, for example, have traveled as far north as Alaska.
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