American bald eagles returning to Highland Lakes more often and for longer
Bald eagles are attentive parents. The female or the male is at or within sight of the nest and the eaglets at all times through the nestling and fledgling periods. They continue to keep a watchful eye on juveniles until they become completely independent. Adobe Stock image
The Highland Lakes area’s most distinguished Winter Texan might be sticking around a lot longer than its normal September-April migration cycle. The American bald eagle, which is the only eagle endemic to North America, was once highly endangered. Over the past few years, the species has made a comeback.
“The population is exploding, especially around Buchanan Dam,” said Arlene Pearce, also known as the “Bird Lady.” She has a federal permit to rehabilitate injured migratory birds and a state permit for rehabilitating mammals.
“I probably see three or four eagles a week just out behind my house,” she said.
Pearce lives with husband Richard in the Silver Creek area of Buchanan Dam.
“We used to maybe see one eagle,” she continued. “Sightings were rare, but now it’s quite common.”
She speculates that many of the eagles are staying year-round and breeding rather than migrating, and that those broods are sticking around, too.
Pearce is the go-to person when Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens come across injured animals. That’s who Game Warden Ronnie Langford called on Jan. 31 when a passerby reported a male bald eagle in the middle of RR 2341 in Buchanan Dam. Pearce found no injuries, but the bird looked malnourished and dehydrated. It was on the road trying to eat an animal carcass—not an eagle’s food of choice.
The large bird was sent to Last Chance Forever, the Birds of Prey Conservancy in San Antonio, where tests showed it was suffering from lead poisoning. It is now making a comeback and will be released into the wild when fully recovered.
As the local bald eagle population grows, the birds are branching out beyond the confines of east Lake Buchanan. One was captured on film in the Lake Marble Falls area by a kayaker, an unusual sighting so far east of Buchanan, the area’s largest lake and a favored hunting ground for birds of prey.
An intrepid photographer caught an image of a young bald eagle fishing from the shallow waters of the Llano River near Kingsland last November.
A mated pair of American bald eagles, regular visitors to the area, returned this year to a long-established nest near the Lake Buchanan/Inks Lake Chamber of Commerce in Buchanan Dam and is drawing a crowd of onlookers to the visitor center’s observation deck. The pair are believed to be nursing a new brood.
“You can’t see into the nest, but it’s the right time of year for the eggs to hatch, and at least one of the eagles is always at the nest,” said Joe Woolsey, executive director of the chamber.
In the middle of this Central Texas activity, the bald eagle made headlines when it was officially named the National Bird of the United States in December 2024. That’s right—only three months ago!
People not well-versed in the minutia of history (most of us!) assumed bald eagles had held that position of high esteem since 1782, when it became the centerpiece of the Great Seal of the United States. An Act of Congress late last year made it official 243 years later
MORE ON BALD EAGLES
Birds of brood
Eagle nests are huge and a combined effort by both parents. On average, nests are about 6 feet in diameter and 6 feet deep. They are made of branches and sticks and include an “egg cup” of soft nesting material about 2-4 feet deep.
Wintering eagles arrive in the Highland Lakes between September and November. Peak egg-laying in Texas reportedly takes place in December. The mother eagle usually lays two or three eggs, which hatch after about 35 days. Both male and female birds develop a “brood patch” prior to the arrival of the eggs. The bare patch on their chests allows for better heat transfer to the eggs.
Eaglets are fed raw meat from day one and are ferociously protected by both parents. The young remain in the nest for up to three months before attempting to fly. Once they catch on, they hang around the nest for another six weeks while their parents teach them to fish and hunt.
Bald and beautiful
The adult bald eagle is a dashing sight with its snowy white head and tail, dark brown body, and bright yellow beak, feet, and eyes, but it takes a while to get there. Eaglets are bare at hatching. They first develop white, downy feathers followed by darker down before the brown juvenile feathers come in at about five weeks. At six weeks, they are nearly the size of an adult but will not look like one until around age 5 after they have gone through multiple plumage changes.
One look at a bald eagle and it is plain to see this beauty is far from bald. The scientific name for the bald eagle is Haliaeetus leucocephalus, which means “sea eagle white head.” When they named the bird, American colonists used the Old English word “balde,” which meant white.
The adults are imposing birds, weighing 8-14 pounds, measuring around 3 feet bill to tail, and having a wingspan of up to 7.5 feet. A bald eagle’s talon (its foot) is about the size of an adult human palm. They have three forward-facing toes and one backward-facing toe—all of which are razor-sharp.
Top of the food chain
The bald eagle is an apex predator, sitting at the top of the food chain. Humans, vehicles, power lines, habitat destruction, and poisoning are its primary threats. These human-created risks were largely responsible for the near elimination of bald eagles in North America late last century. Conservation and protection efforts over the past 50 years have brought the birds back, and they are no longer on the endangered species list.
Their size and strength give them an advantage over all prey. An eagle’s grip strength is phenomenal at around 400 pounds per square-inch (psi), many times that of a human. That ferocious grip allows them to easily snatch and fly away with prey up to half their body weight. Should they catch a meal heavier than they can carry, they will swim it to shore instead of losing it. Their large, curved beak has sharp edges specifically for slicing through scales and flesh. When food is plentiful, eagles are able to store up to 2 pounds of it in their crop for later.
They have extraordinary vision, with eyes nearly the size of a human’s but estimated to be at least four times sharper. Two centers of focus allow them to see forward and to the side at the same time. Their eyes are such an important feature that they are equipped with three eyelids. The outer two eyelids serve as protection from debris. The third, transparent eyelid, called a nictitating membrane, works kind of like a windshield wiper, sweeping out and back from the inside corner across the eye, keeping it moist and clean.
Bald eagles can see prey up to several miles away and spot fish, their primary food source, underwater from several hundred feet in the air. As sea eagles, they live close to water and prefer fish meals. Opportunistic feeders, they will eat whatever is available when hunger strikes, such as waterfowl, small mammals, snakes, and carrion.
Even without an eagle eye, it’s fairly easy for humans to spot bald eagles in the Highland Lakes. Canyon of the Eagles Nature Park and Resort and Vanishing Texas River Cruise, both on Lake Buchanan, are far enough off the beaten path to make spotting the birds easier than along busy highways.
The most accessible eagles are the pair at the Lake Buchanan/Inks Lake Chamber of Commerce, 19611 Texas 29 East in Buchanan Dam. Just park your car and walk behind the building to the wooden viewing platform. If the chamber is open, go inside first and ask Woolsey if you can borrow the visitor center’s new spotting scope. He’ll show you right where to direct your attention for the best view. He can also fill you in on what this pair has been up to in recent years.
FUN, FEATHERED FACTS
- A group of bald eagles is called a convocation.
- Benjamin Franklin was not smitten with the bald eagle as America’s national symbol, calling it “a bird of bad moral character” for stealing meals from other birds.
- A bald eagle’s nest can weigh about 1,000 pounds or more. The largest recorded nest was in Florida at 22 feet deep.
- Bald eagles are largely monogamous.
- Their average flying speed is about 30 mph; hunting speed is around 75 mph.
- The birds have more than 7,000 feathers and can fly up to 10,000 feet in the air.
- Bald eagle parents do not shove eaglets out of the nest to make them fly. They will try to coax them out by perching nearby or flying close with food.
- Bald eagles are very good swimmers.
- Eagles don’t clean their nests, so over time, they get pretty gross with rotting food and bird droppings. Eagles will add fresh materials to their nests or build an alternate nest, allowing the first to clean itself out over time.