Justice returns to nest

Territory feud between eagles left Kindness without her mate at Eastlake park

A tumultuous mating and nesting season for Kindness and Justice, the pair of eagles at Bruce Yee Park in Eastlake, has left those who keep updated on the birds wondering if there will be eaglets this year.

Many on the Kindness & Justice Eastlake Eagles Facebook group agree that signs showed at least one egg had been laid. But between leaving the nest unoccupied for stretches of time and a territory feud, many page members are just glad that the male, Justice, has returned to the nest.

Facebook group moderator Elsie Brockett said she noticed things at the nest were abnormal on Feb. 29 when Justice was not returning to the nest.

“Kindness was on the nest and Justice wasn’t there,” she said. “We were waiting for him to come in and switch spots to keep the egg warm, but Justice wasn’t coming to the nest. And then this other eagle swooped in.”

She said she knew the incoming eagle was not Justice because of the way it behaved. Where Kindness and Justice were usually careful of the egg as they entered and exited the nest, Brockett said the intruder continued to circle and fly at Kindness.

With still no sign of Justice, more eagles entered the park and started vying to take over as Kindness’s mate, according to photographer Keith Marchand, who regularly takes pictures of the Eastlake eagles.

“Apparently, there are like seven of them all competing for the affections of the female,” Marchand said. “It’s nature, but it’s getting kind of brutal out there. There’s a lot of talon-totalon lockups, dive bombing, chasing each other out. I think these males are competing to prove they’re strong enough to be a suitor.”

Marchand said he expected the fighting to continue until Kindness chose one of the intruders as her new mate.

“The nest here in Eastlake is a prime location. It’s close to the lake, so if there’s an opening, another eagle is going to try to get in there pretty quick,” Marchand said.

Soon enough, it was assumed that the eggs were no longer viable as the nest had been left empty for long periods of time in the cold weather. Proof of this was later caught on camera by Marchand, who took a picture of an intruder eating the egg.

“That’s what they do,” Brockett said. “It’s a source of protein and it cleans out the nest.”

As days had gone by without a sighting of Justice, many began to theorize what happened to the eagle and feared for the worst.

“He might have been injured, and that would limit his ability to fight if he had to, so he could have flown off to heal,” Marchand said. “And other eagles have been known to leave for a couple weeks and then come back, so it might just be that.”

On March 6, after days of speculating and waiting, Justice returned to the nest and was welcomed back by Kindness.

With time still left in mating season, Brockett is hopeful that the pair may have a chance of hatching eaglets this year.

While happy to have the eagles reunited, Brockett and the rest of the Facebook group’s moderators are aware that this is not the first time this has happened at the Eastlake nest, and it may not be the last.

In 2019, Kindness and Justice were incubating an egg until a female intruder disrupted the process.

“I’ve talked to a naturalist from Juneau, Alaska. She is the director of a raptor center and she said that this is so normal for them to behave like this,” Brockett said. “But it’s kind of hard for us because we’re attached to the love story.”

On March 6, after days of speculating and waiting, Justice returned to the nest and was welcomed back by Kindness.

SUBMITTED BY ELSIE BROCKETT SUBMITTED BY KEITH MARCHAND Kindness perches with Justice in a tree at Bruce Yee Park in Eastlake following his nearly week-long absence from the nest. An intruder eagle at the nest in Eastlake’s Bruce Yee Park eats the egg shell of a recently laid egg.

SUBMITTED BY KEITH MARCHAND Eagles spar with each other at Bruce Yee Park in Eastlake.