Archival March 2021 - Bald Eagles Roosting in Hilltop Vista

When my wife and I purchased the property and began developing the gardens, we were fortunate to have two and a half acres of a woodland, primarily composed of mature, rugged, beautiful Douglas-firs, just outside our property behind the area we now call Hilltop Vista. Bald eagles were frequently seen flying over the area and occasionally they would swoon down to ground level in the garden at very high speed to snatch their prey. A pair of eagles made a large nest in the very top of a tall Douglas-fir in the woodland and I expected them to come back to the nest every year to raise their 1 to 3 eaglets, as eagle pairs are monogamous and usually mate for life. Although about 80% of young eaglets do not live to adulthood, the adult eagles can live a relatively long life, thirty years or more. Thus, I was looking forward to seeing this eagle pair for many years. Unfortunately, several years after sighting the eagle’s nest, loggers came and cut down all the Douglas-fir trees, including the one with the eagle’s nest, supposedly to make way for a proposed housing development. No development took place and now the beautiful woodland is an open space overrun with invasive plants like Himalayan blackberry and Scotch broom. The disappearance of the woodland profoundly altered the flora and fauna living there and sightings of bald eagles became very infrequent.

This past week I heard a strange high-pitched whistling noise coming from the top of a tall Douglas-fir on Hilltop Vista, behind the gazebo and looked up to see a majestic, adult bald eagle with its brown body and distinctive whitehead, neck, tail, and bright yellow, large, hooked bill sitting on the very top of the Douglas-fir. It takes between four and five years for the eagles to develop these key identifying features. Juvenile bald eagles are primarily brown from head to tail with some mottled white and brown feathers on the wings and tail, while the hooked bill is gray. For more than one hour my wife and I looked at the bald eagle perched on top of the Douglas-fir until a crow started to harass it, probably defending its territory. The adult bald eagle with an estimated wingspan of six to seven feet flew out of the Douglas-fir, along with two juvenile bald eagles, soaring and gliding the waves of wind and then left the area. Thankfully, my wife was able to promptly take a picture of the flying eagle with her cell phone.

Although bald eagles have made a major comeback since being listed as endangered in 1976, they are still a threatened species that requires protection of their habitat for feeding, nesting, and roosting. Bald eagles primarily feed on fish, waterfowl, small mammals, and dead animals. Thus, we need to continue to protect and restore our declining fisheries, particularly salmon species, a favorite of the bald eagle. As population growth and development continue in our Northwest region, we must be vigilante in protecting our wetlands and shorelines. For the bald eagle’s nesting and roosting needs, protection of old growth forest, and our urban forest containing tall, mature trees such as our venerable Douglas-firs, is essential.

I would like to share some more information about the garden region we call Hilltop Vista where the eagle was spotted. It sets at the top of a southwest hillside, making it the highest section of Vista Gardens about 250 feet above the lowest section, the Lentz Garden, yielding great views of the saltwater, the Port Washington Narrows, and greater Bremerton area to the southwest. Hilltop Vista is only suitable for drought-tolerant plants as it receives no supplemental water except what nature provides. It contains a shelter belt and privacy barrier of primarily native plants on the three sides of Hilltop Vista that border adjacent properties. The native trees include Douglas-fir, western red-cedar, western hemlock, and shore pine. I also planted the native shrubs Pacific wax myrtle and tall mahonia. The slow growing, long-lived oaks, our native Garry oak, Oregon’s Sadler oak, and California’s canyon live oak, were planted for the benefit of future generations to observe and enjoy. A variety of drought-tolerant conifer cultivars were also added, along with selected plants native to southeast Australia, such as the especially ornamental and adaptable Ovens wattle (Acacia pravissima) with its masses of soft, yellow, honey-scented, late winter flowers, and bottlebrush (Callistemon species), with its unique red cylindrical summer flowers resembling a bottle brush.

We are happy that our garden is contributing to provide a natural habitat for the wildlife of the Puget Sound region and hope you can visit this spring to explore the ever changing flora and fauna of this magical urban oasis.