Brentwood Bay Eagles, Central Saanich BC - 2019-2024 Seasons

[sassyk]

Wallace Dr. July 14th cont'd.

The adult sat high up in the old original nest tree for some time preening.
These photos were taken from the street below the tree.

The nest was empty.

[sassyk]

I visited the Centennial Park nest with my birding partner on July 14th.
When we arrived one of the eaglets was perched on a branch beside the nest.

One of the adults flew in and perched in the adjacent tree.

[sassyk]

Centennial Park July 14th cont'd.

The eaglet on the branch was very active, jumping up and down and exercising its wings.

[sassyk]

Centennial Park July 14th cont'd.

We could hear the 2nd eaglet calling from somewhere in the park and while we were walking along the path behind the nest tree we saw it fly from the trees, circle around and land on a branch behind the nest. It flew off again, followed by the eaglet that was at the nest and they both successfully landed back in the nest tree.

The adult was perched on the branch beside the nest watching the eaglets flying,
and was still perched there when we left.

[gemini]

2023 Cam Maintenance
Matching Drive

It's that time of year - Vic at the White Rock nest fledged on July 12, and sibling Uni waited almost a week before fledging on July 18. Lof from Surrey Reserve is a week or so younger, and is beginning to get some height while flapping - I think it won't be long before we see her (or maybe him) trying out some of the branches! We know there's a chick at the Delta nest on the electrical tower, but without a cam, are not sure how close he or she is to fledging. We did lose an eaglet this year - brave, feisty Tyr from Surrey Reserve had some health and mobility issues but seemed to be doing okay although growing more slowly than most until suddenly he wasn't; I'll be adopting the Surrey nest for next year in memory of Tyr.

As I watch Lof moving around on the nest with wings held wide, I realize it will seem like just a hop, skip and a jump from now - and this year's eaglets will be off on their great adventure - and it will be time for us to get into as many nests as possible to clean the cams and do other needed maintenance.

We need your help so we can be prepared to see what happens next.

The first $1000 in donations toward our cam maintenance fund drive will be matched by long-time supporters of Hancock Wildlife - so the time to donate is now!

We'll have more details soon, but I know we'd like to have the cams at Surrey Reserve cleaned (which will cost around $1000) and it would be wonderful if we could get a cam at Delta that looks at the nest the eagles are using, as well as continuing to keep an eye on the one we'd like them to use (estimated cost $5-6000). We focused on the cams at White Rock last year, so unless there's an issue, we probably will skip them this year and plan to focus on them next year. There's a chance for a new cam at Harrison Mills, but we think the eagles have moved, so would need to find them or decide to focus on the eagles that fish in the river. And there may be other cams in the works!

If we can raise $7,000, we should be able to do the most essential work at Surrey Reserve and Delta. And with the matching drive, if you adopt Delta 2, Surrey Reserve or White Rock for next year for $250, Hancock Wildlife will get $500! Please note that adopting a nest is a sign of support for that nest, and we'll be using the funds where they are most needed - so please adopt White Rock if it's your favorite nest even though we probably won't need to do maintenance there this year - or adopt Harrison Mills, and we'll add your name there if we manage to get a camera there, or check with you a little later so you can choose to adopt a different nest or one of our tagged eagles with trackers.

The easiest way to adopt a nest is to

• go to the "Donations" page on our website (https://hancockwildlife.org/donations/ - or click the button below)
• click the "Donate via CanadaHelps Now!" link
• enter the amount of your donation ($250 to adopt the nest of your choice for the coming year)
• pick "Adopt a Nest" from the Fund list
• use the message box to say which nest (or tagged eagle) you are adopting and how you would like your name to be listed
• fill in your contact information and credit card details, and
• click "Complete Donation Now"

We've tried to answer some of the common questions about donating here - All About Donating - and please feel free to PM me or email me ([email protected]) or gemini ([email protected]) if you have other questions or concerns.

Thank You!

[JudyB]

2023 Cam Maintenance
Matching Drive
Update

We have raised over $3,000 already - almost half way to our goal! Thank you all so much!

And another supporter has come forward and pledged to match the next $500 in donations - so if you've been planning to donate, today is a great day to do that!

We already have 12 adoptions (2 each for Delta 2 and Harrison Mills, 3 each for Surrey Reserve and White Rock, one for tagged eagle Loki, and one person has not sent me their choice of nest or tagged eagle yet) - and nest adoptions have traditionally been the core of our fundraising for maintenance on the cams - so if that will work for you, please adopt a nest! Or two!

But I know that doesn't work for everyone, so I want to mention another option - we also have a core group who have signed up for monthly donations - and that consistent income helps with things like the cost of this forum, with its 1435 members, 662,126 posts and 1.2 million screenshots and other attachments. Thanks to all of you who post here, our forum has amazing documentation on a whole lot of eagles, not to mention osprey and various other critters - mostly in North America, but some from Europe and even Australia!

We encourage people to use CanadaHelps for monthly donations (actually, it's a great choice for all donations to HWF, and you don't need to be in Canada to use it). For those unfamiliar with CanadaHelps, it's a registered charity in Canada whose mission is to help smaller charities with their fundraising by handling the administrative stuff. If you're in Canada, they provide tax receipts automatically - and it's easier for gemini and me as the ones who track donations because there's a place for people to leave a comment so we know if they have an interest in a particular nest or tagged eagle - or what nest they want to adopt, if that's appropriate. Monthly donations can be cancelled at any time - or increased!

We are grateful to all of you who post observations, screenshots and videos - without you, there would be no forum, and no resource looking into the lives of so many eagles (and other critters) - thank you! And what is that saying about those who do the most being the ones asked to do more - if you can help out by adopting a nest, or signing up for monthly donations, or whatever you're comfortable doing, we would really appreciate it. Thank you for your consideration.

We've tried to answer some of the common questions about donating here - All About Donating - and please feel free to PM me or email me ([email protected]) or gemini ([email protected]) if you have other questions or concerns.

Thank You!

[sassyk]

This is the opening post for the Brentwood Bay eagles thread for the 2023-2024 nesting season.

My birding partner and I visited both nests in the Brentood Bay area on Oct. 18th. While driving along West Saanich Rd. towards Wallace Dr. I spotted an adult perched in the big tree on the property at the end of Sluggett Dr. It flew off towards the property across Sluggett where its mate was perched and they called back and forth to each other for several minutes before we left.

[sassyk]

Wallace Dr. eagles cont'd.

I managed to get a few photos of each eagle in the dreary, foggy weather.

A view of the nest, taken from the end of the road beside the big field across
the road from the nest tree.

[sassyk]

My birding partner and I visited the Centennial Park eagles after our visit to the Wallace Dr. nest site. It was a dull, dreary day which did not produce good quality photos.

One of the adults was perched in the tree behind the nest tree.

The second eagle was perched near the top of a tree on the corner property
at the intersection of Wallace Dr. and Stelly's X-Road.

Photo of the nest taken from the lane behind the vet hospital.

[sassyk]

I visited the 2 nests in the area with my birding partner on Mar. 16th.

The nest on Wallace Dr. is now visible with no leaves on the Cottonwood trees. One adult was in the nest and appeared to be incubating

[sassyk]

Centennial Park Nest, Mar. 16th

My birding partner and I visited this nest after watching the nest on Wallace Dr.

After several minutes we finally saw movement in the nest; an adult appeared to be incubating. Unfortunately the appearance of the adult was only for a couple of seconds then it layed down.

We were able to see the adult in the nest from the side street.