Lenoir City eagle nest update

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Tony King's eagle nest: 17 March 2012

We first visited the Lenoir City eagle's nest with a WalkAbout group from Ijams in early March, that's when the above photo was taken.We found three fuzzy, gray nestlings laying in a pile in the center of the nest after a rainy Saturday morning. They were huddled together to stay warm. Discovered by local birder Tony King in 2006, the nest has been active every year since. 

Recently, I received an update from Tony.

"The bald eagles of Lenoir City fledged three good looking juveniles on Mother's Day (of course) May 13, 2012," Tony writes. "They are still flying to and from the nest tree after resting in between flights. Their parents have successfully raised 15 eaglets in the seven years we [Tony and Denise] have known them."

I last visited the site in early May and discovered an almost full-grown trio ready and eager for their first flight. They fledged a few days later.

Historically, bald eagles were not in the Tennessee Valley, they lived in West Tennessee: Reelfoot Lake, Land Between the Lakes, etc. But, starting in the 1980s, young eagles have been released every year on this side of the state. Now, there's successful nests on all the lakes and many of the rivers.

A young eagle spends its first four or five years roaming, seeing the country fancy-free, but when it becomes sexually mature and molts into its adult plumage, it usually returns to within 75 miles of its first flight to find a mate and claim a nesting site.

Thanks, Tony for your update!


- Stephen Lyn Bales

Three eaglets watching for their parents. 7 May 2012.