Bald eagles back to rebuild nest
Curtner Elementary cheers return for symbols of freedom
MILPITAS >> Tucked high above the cacophony of a bustling schoolyard, Curtner Elementary School’s two resident bald eagles are back to rebuild their nest — and their family.
The pair moved to the neighborhood last spring and riveted the attention of bird experts and enthusiasts across the Bay Area. As bird-watchers flocked to spot the revered raptors, teachers at Curtner supplemented their lesson plans with tales about their feathered neighbors.
Now, despite the hustle and bustle below, both the male and female eagles can be
seen carrying branches to their nest — gearing up to rear another chick. Visible to students and passers-by, witnesses have caught sight of the birds bringing food back to their nest.
“They had a baby, they left, and then they came back,” said a school crossing guard, Surender Chadha, delighted to see the birds return.
Chong B. Frazier of Milpitas lives in the neighborhood and sent both her children to Curtner. She said she often sees the eagles on her morning walk.
Near the school, Wayne Ngo, a sixth-grader at Curtner, eagerly peered out the window of his father’s van, hoping to see the eagles.
First-grader Parker Moon put it simply: “They pretty much just sit there.” After a bit of prodding from his father, however, he remembered a livelier encounter with the national bird.
“I did see the eagle bend a smaller tree once,” he said, adding that the heavy bird caused the flimsy branch to sway.
Curtner Elementary School seems like an unlikely habitat for a bald eagle home, a tuft of branches roughly three-fourths of the way up the tree. The birds typically prefer quieter — and more remote — places. Curtner Elementary is neither of those things.
But it’s near a rich food source, said Jim Ervin, a compliance manager at the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility close to the elementary school.
The wastewater treatment facility is home to hundreds of species of native and migrating birds, making it the perfect feeding ground for the eagles. Mallard ducks and coots splashing around the facility’s lagoons make for easy pickings. The coots especially, Ervin said, are slow and easy to catch.
“The bedroom’s near the kitchen,” said Glenn Stewart, director of the UC Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group.
Originally, the pair tried to set up a nest in one of the pine trees on the wastewater treatment facility’s grounds, Ervin observed. He believes strong winds drove them farther away from the facility.
“With the constant wind blowing over, I suspect the mama eagle said ‘no way,’ ” Ervin said.
The baby bird that was last year’s center of attention has long flown the coop.
But where is it now? Stewart has a hunch. Many young eagles soar up to the southern reaches of Canada and Alaska, scavenging the remains of fish from salmon-rich streams. “They go there all by themselves,” Stewart said. It’s as if they know exactly where to go.
“They’ll eat salmon until everything freezes, and then they turn around and come back down,” he said.
Once chillier temps set in, the juvenile eagles, which can fly up to 300 miles a day, head south back to their birthplace.
Without a tracking device, it’s impossible to know exactly where the juvenile eagle is now. But it may be close. “The place they fledged from is usually near the place they’ll want to nest,” Stewart said.
The bald eagles’ resilience is due in part to the support they’ve received as they’ve moved back into the Bay Area. Banning the pesticide DDT played a key role in bringing populations back from the brink of extinction. As of June, 30 pairs of breeding eagles had been spotted throughout the Central Coast, according to the Ventana Wildlife Society.
Stewart was part of a critical project that seeded this current batch of breeding pairs, and he’s excited to see the progress the birds have made in repopulating a once sparse habitat.
To protect the birds, Curtner Elementary has taken measures to help the eagles stay safe.
A sign has been posted on the lawn directly below the nest, reminding curious students and bird-lovers alike to keep a distance of at least 330 feet. Last year, a drone was spotted hovering near the nest, a disturbance that could have cost the pilot nearly $20,000 in fines.
Most passers-by are respectful of the birds — especially the school’s students. They’re simply excited to watch the circle of life unfold.
“When I go to recess, I like to see them flying over us,” said first-grader Henry Tabladillo, who’s seen them carry branches to their nest — a sign that these eagles are likely here to stay.