In the highest branches of the tallest trees along the northern edge of Irondequoit is a big, dark tangle of brush -- the home of two beautiful bald eagles.
Eagle nests are massive, spanning 5 to 6 feet in diameter, and conspicuous among bare winter branches. This one was first spotted last fall; its proximity to the human world delighting passers-by.
Sue Lander is a wildlife photographer who lives in the area.
"I drive by, and if they're posing then I hop out and photograph them,” she said.
“Don’t tell people where they are, though,” Lander said.
That morning, a small crowd had already begun to gather under the nest, pointing their cameras and phones toward the sky.
Dave Pike is another photographer who lives around the corner.
"It's obviously been quite the attraction here,” he said, snapping a few photos of the eagles.
Even from a distance, their white heads and hooked yellow bills are striking.
“It's kind of like the bears in Yellowstone,” said Pike. “We can have traffic jams here with people lining up, taking pictures and watching them.”
Pike started photographing bald eagles as a hobby during the pandemic. He and his wife made weekly trips to Caledonia to catch glimpses of some of the eagles that were roosting there. Bald eagle populations are on the rise, but sightings are still rare enough to feel special.
“They’re super charismatic,” said Amy Mahar, a wildlife biologist with the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation.
A few fun facts about bald eagles: They form strong bonds, many mating for life, and will often return to the same nest year after year. They engage in a stunning courtship ritual in which the pair will intertwine their talons and freefall, spiraling to the ground before letting go of each other and soaring back into the sky.
“I love it that now I'm able to see bald eagles regularly, even when I'm not looking for them for work,” Mahar said.
While the Irondequoit nest is highly visible, it’s one of many in the region. The DEC is currently monitoring hundreds of eagles in the state.
Just 50 years ago, there were only two.
THE LAST NEST IN NEW YORK
Bald eagles were already threatened by habitat loss and hunting when the toxic insecticide DDT brought the species to the brink of extinction. The harmful chemical caused their eggshells to thin and break before hatching. After DDT was banned, conservationists went to great lengths to help bald eagles successfully raise a new generation of eaglets.
By the 1970s, New York only had two bald eagles left, nesting along Hemlock Lake. The birds were attempting to mate but their eggs were too soft to survive. In an act so emblematic of the hands-on nature of natural conservation, a scientist climbed to the nest, swapped the bad eggs for fake ones, and eventually the fake ones for a live chick bred in captivity. The foster parents raised chicks this way for years.
Meanwhile, biologists were also hand-rearing eaglets in man-made nests at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, feeding them from behind a curtain so they would not associate humans with food.
Mahar suspects that many of the eagles alive in New York today can trace their lineage back to the chicks in these programs, including the eagles in Irondequoit.
“The dramatic recovery of the species is a success story that can give us all a little bit of hope for the future,” Mahar said.
WAITING FOR EAGLETS
While curious onlookers in Irondequoit keep tabs on their eagles, a popular pair of bird parents nearly 2,000 miles away has drawn an audience from around the world.
Jackie and Shadow are two bald eagles in Big Bear Valley, California. They were first introduced to the internet in 2018, when Friends of Big Bear Valley launched a livestream of their nest. The pair became even more popular during the pandemic.
Twenty-four hours a day, audiences can tune in to an up-close-and-personal view as the doting parents feed their fuzzy chicks and protect them from the harsh weather of the San Bernardino Mountains.
Bald eagles lay one to three eggs, which incubate for 35 days before hatching. Chicks spend about 10 to 12 weeks in the nest, but according to Mahar, often just one of the chicks survives.
The suspense of the breeding status of the Irondequoit eagles – yet unnamed – only adds to the allure. But Mahar is concerned that the more people are drawn to the nest by the promise of eaglets, the less likely those eaglets become.
“There are some Eagle pairs that are more tolerant of ground level activity than others,” Mahar said. “But often when people approach a nest, it can cause the adults to leave during incubation, or when the young are present at the nest, and that can result in eggs that don't hatch, or a young that die of exposure, and then the nest fails.”
For many endangered animals, conservation presents a paradox: the more successful a species is, the more it is threatened, depleting resources and competition for scarce wild spaces.
THE IRONDEQUOIT EAGLES
In 2002, the West Irondequoit Central School District adopted the Eagles as a nickname and mascot after deciding to retire their previous moniker: the Indians.
The district chose the nickname after a community-wide vote where people wrote in that eagles were “soaring, dominant” birds, symbolizing “power, fortitude, and success,” and stating, “Their survival from near extinction speaks for itself.”
In December 2024, as one of his final acts as president, Joe Biden signed a bill into law that officially adopted the bald eagle as the country’s national bird.
The bald eagle was removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007, but it's still a vulnerable species. The DEC urges spectators to keep a respectful distance, recommending at least 660 feet away.
The DEC sent the following statement on best practices for viewing bald eagles in the wild:
Viewing bald eagles as they migrate or congregate in wintering areas has become a popular wildlife-watching activity. For the safest and least intrusive bald eagle viewing, we recommend the following etiquette:
- Remain in or immediately next to your vehicle, and don't approach eagles closer than a quarter mile. Avoid roosting areas.
- Refrain from loud noises: honking horns, door slamming, radios playing, yelling, etc.
- Keep pets at home.
- Use binoculars or spotting scopes instead of trying to get a little closer.
- Don't do anything to try to make the bird fly.
- Respect private property and avoid restricted areas.
