Sad News for the Smith Rock Bald Eagles Family
March 18, 2022
While the Smith Rock Bald Eagle pair that have been nesting successfully here for over 10 years, this year that is sadly not the case. We checked in with the Park Manager Matt Davey when we noticed the nest was unattended, and he said that while we can confidently say that egg(s) were laid since we saw the switching out of the parents on the nest over the last month, with the nest now unattended, we know we won’t be seeing any new family members this season.
Park Manager Davey went on to say that there were reports from birders that saw the adult eagles engage with another pair of adult eagles last Friday, which caused the nesting eagle to fly off from the nest to defend their territory.
“It’s possible that an opportunistic raven may have snatched the eggs when the nest was unoccupied. But we won’t know for sure exactly what happened, other than the eagles did not continue nesting after that encounter. The good news is that they are both still hanging out in the area, and appear to be uninjured. It’s likely they will continue to defend their nest area and try again in 2023. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
First we saw the pair, not on the eggs
Then one of the pair flew off.
Then there was one.
Then the other flew off.
Leaving just the empty nest.
On a bittersweet note for campers at the Bivy and hikers below on the Canyon Trail, all restrictions for the Bald Eagles have been lifted for the season. We wish them a much better outcome next year.