By Jan Axelson
Northside News
It was a good year for Warner Park’s bald eagle pair, who fledged three eaglets this summer. Volunteer eagle watcher Beth Sluys reports, “The adult bald eagles are great parents and the three chicks from this year are strong and were eager to fly with a lot of hopping and wing flapping in days of gusty winds.” The pair built their nest in 2020 and fledged their first young in 2021.
Each week during nesting season, volunteers with the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s Bald Eagle Nest Watch project check on nests with binoculars and viewing scopes and report on the progress of their nests.
The eagle pair that has nested in Cherokee Marsh for many years met a sadder fate. The nest had three young, but none survived when the nest and supporting tree limbs came down in late April, likely due to high winds.
The nest was in an isolated tree in the Cherokee Marsh Fishery Area on the upper Yahara River. It will be interesting to see if the pair rebuilds in the same tree or moves to a different location.
The Northside’s sandhill cranes had a mixed year as well.
Sandhill cranes with young were observed in many local parks and neighborhoods, including Warner Park, Cherokee Marsh Conservation Park’s North Unit, the Cherokee Park neighborhood, and the Bridges Golf Course.
But many of Wisconsin’s cranes struggle to find suitable nest sites, hatch young, and raise young to adulthood. Stan Temple, Beers-Bascom Professor Emeritus in Conservation, taught wildlife management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is an expert on sandhill crane populations.
According to Temple, “When all the prime wetland nesting habitat in Wisconsin became filled with nesting pairs, birds that couldn’t find room in prime nesting habitat began using sub-optimal habitats, like small urban and suburban wetlands.” While these urban sites can provide great chances for folks to view cranes, the birds may be at higher risk from predators such as raccoons and foxes. Temple reports that some cranes raised in Wisconsin have found success by expanding into neighboring states and nesting there.
Cranes that lose their eggs due to predators may attempt to re-nest. A pair that nested in Cherokee Marsh Conservation Park’s South Unit lost their first eggs, likely to a predator. But in a second nesting attempt, no eggs hatched though the birds continued to sit on the nest long after the usual number of days required.
Here are some ways to help sandhill cranes and bald eagles, wherever you may find them.
Leave cranes some space. If they change their behavior as you approach, you’re too close. Don’t feed cranes. The International Crane Foundation advises that it can be dangerous for both cranes and people for the birds to associate humans with food. And because cranes seem to have little fear of vehicle traffic, keep an eye out for them when driving local streets.
Don’t use lead sinkers or jigs, which can contaminate fish and poison eagles who eat the fish. Find non-poisonous alternatives at your local bait shop. Don’t approach trees with active eagle nests. Pick up trash, including plastic and fishing line, which can entangle wildlife.
For more information, visit Bald Eagle Nest Watch (swibirds.org/bald-eagle-nest-watch) and International Crane Foundation (savingcranes.org).
