The eagle has been sighted

Dave Brooks

Bird enthusiasts enjoyed a rare treat this weekend when a bald eagle

visited several natural areas along the Orange Coast.

The predatory bird was spotted as far inland as the Upper Newport

Bay and as far west as the Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach.

The bird, tagged “K13,” is said to be from a Catalina Island breeding

program looking to reintroduce the national symbol back into the

wild.

Bald eagles were once found in great numbers along the Southern

California coast and the Channel Islands, but massive residential and

commercial development, along with the introduction of several

pesticides, greatly reduced their numbers. Specifically DDT and DDE

have led to thinness in eagle eggs, making them break easily during

nesting.

The eagle was part of a managed program on the island, said Peter

Sharp of the Institute for Wildlife Studies. After eagles mate on

Catalina, their eggs are removed and shipped to a zoo in San

Francisco where they are incubated and monitored. Once hatched, the

eagles are then returned to the island within 10 days of birth. By

their eighth week, the eagles are placed in towers around the island,

where they live until they learn how to fly. K13 was believed to have

been released in 2001.

The eagle is said to be a male without a mate and estimated to

weigh between 8 to 9 pounds.

The bird has been spotted all over Huntington Beach, including in

a park near the Santa Ana River.

“I’ve seen him several times when I go to work,” said Jack

Sampson, who said he hopes the presence of the bird will convince the

Orange County Transportation District not to expand the Orange

Freeway along the Santa Ana River.

“I definitely plan to bring this up at one of the meetings,” he

said.

Eileen Murphy, who leads the annual Miracles of the Marsh wetlands

tour, said her group has spotted the bird several times in the lower

Bolsa Chica mesa.

It has become a regular sighting among visitors, she added.

“We saw him several times last week,” she said, but noted that she

didn’t spot the animal during a Tuesday tour of the Bolsa Chica

wetlands with a group of third-graders.

Sharp said the animal could be here to stay.

“We don’t really have much control over the bird’s behavior,” he

said. “If it chooses Orange County to be its home, then you’re lucky

enough to be stuck with him.”