Two bald eagles are back along the Scioto River in Columbus, with chicks — and visitors

Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch
·4 min read
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From left: Zachary Amick, Jim White and Brazil Star watch through cameras the nest of American bald eagles near Dublin Road.
From left: Zachary Amick, Jim White and Brazil Star watch through cameras the nest of American bald eagles near Dublin Road.

Wondering what the crowd of people — most with cameras — are doing standing just on the opposite side of a guardrail along Dublin Road?

A pair of American bald eagles are back along the Scioto River in Columbus, just west of Downtown, and they have a new home, according to those who have watched over the years.

The pair — named Apollo and Annie by the group of people who regularly watch them — have a new nest on the south bank of the muddy Scioto, just south of busy Dublin Road.

American bald eagles Annie and Apollo and their hatchlings occupy this nest Monday in a tree above the Scioto River near Dublin Road.
American bald eagles Annie and Apollo and their hatchlings occupy this nest Monday in a tree above the Scioto River near Dublin Road.

Joanne Miller of Hilliard, one of those taking photos across the river on Monday afternoon, said it appears there's at least one chick in the nest.

"I saw a fuzzy little head," said Miller, 72, who uses a powerful 3000 mm zoom lens to get a bird's-eye view.

Sarah Schott, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said on Tuesday that a new photo that Miller posted shows that the nest contains at least two chicks.

Joanne Miller smiles Monday as she photographs a nest of bald eagles from alongside Dublin Road.
Joanne Miller smiles Monday as she photographs a nest of bald eagles from alongside Dublin Road.

Miller said there's a new nest because the branch holding the nest the pair had in 2022 came down, taking that nest with it. Before that happened, Schott said, two chicks in the nest died, likely from hypothermia.

Through observation of the eagle parents, Miller said she could tell that the two chicks had died last year. "The behavior of the eagles changed," she said, including the way they looked down into the nest.

The new nest is on the same side of the river, about 100 yards downstream, high in a still-barren tree, making it easier to see the eagles.

The watching spot had been in a parking lot across from the Camp Bow Wow dog day care on Dublin Road east of Grandview Avenue. Now, people have set up a little farther east with their cameras, sitting on the opposite side of the guardrail along Dublin Road at the top of a steep hill heading down to the Scioto River.

Stuffed animals decorate the wooden guardrail posts Monday near an area where visitors watch the nest of American bald eagles Annie, Apollo and their hatchlings along the Scioto River near Dublin Road in Columbus.
Stuffed animals decorate the wooden guardrail posts Monday near an area where visitors watch the nest of American bald eagles Annie, Apollo and their hatchlings along the Scioto River near Dublin Road in Columbus.

On Monday afternoon, Miller, a retired Columbus schoolteacher, was sitting on a bench the eagle watchers have placed along and behind the guardrail along Dublin Road. She said she has been watching eagles along the river since 2017.

People have also brought chairs and put down mulch along paths people walk on. There are displays about eagles in the nearby parking lot along with signs warning visitors that flying drones is prohibited because of the nesting bald eagles and that doing so violates state and federal law.

In January 2020, a bald eagle was found dead in a nearby construction site. That was John, Miller said, who had been Annie's mate. John and Annie were named after John and Annie Glenn: John, the astronaut hero and U.S. senator from Ohio, and Annie, his beloved wife.

Now it's Apollo and Annie.

"She yells at him when he doesn't bring home any food," Miller said.

Gary Miller of Hilliard (no relation), a retired state corrections officer, said he visits to take photos because of the thrill of watching the eagles take off and land.

"It's something I never get tired of," said Gary Miller, 66, who said he comes to the river two to three times a week at this time of year.

Both Gary Miller and Joanna Miller ultimately left the site, but more people came a little after 5 p.m. Monday to watch the eagles.

It's a tight-knit group that has a Facebook page, "Birds Of Prey And Wildlife Society," that highlights the goings-on along the Scioto with vivid photography.

Kristin Free and Tim Johnston brought their cockatoo, Kooper, with them Monday while they watched the nest of American bald eagles near Dublin Road.
Kristin Free and Tim Johnston brought their cockatoo, Kooper, with them Monday while they watched the nest of American bald eagles near Dublin Road.

Brazil Star said she has been watching eagles from the perch along Dublin Road since 2016. She finds them inspirational, calling Annie and Apollo "our local eagle ambassadors."

Star, from the Grandview Heights area, said when disaster befalls the eagles, when their nest falls or if their chicks die, they come back to rebuild their nest and try again to have a family. She said the adult eagles sat in branches for a week after the chicks died last year before taking them out of the nest.

The eagles show the way on how to overcome these things, Star said. They also help educate visitors, she said, making them more likely to take care of wildlife.

Star pointed to the strength of the eagle's new nest. Despite high winds of the past two weekends with gusts reaching 60 mph, it survived.

"I've never seen anything woven like that," she said of the branches of the nest.

Schott said a March 2022 census showed there are 806 eagle nests across Ohio. Another count will be done soon, she said.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bald eagles Annie and Apollo are nesting again along the Scioto River