The eagle has landed

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, trying to reintroduce the national symbol back into

this area.

Bald eagles were once found in great numbers along the Southern

California coast and the Channel Islands, but residential and

commercial development, along with the introduction of several

pesticides, greatly reduced their numbers.

Specifically DDT and DDE led to thinness in eagle eggs, making

them break easily during nesting.

The pesticides were finally banned, and eagles have come back from

the brink of extinction.

The bald eagle was eventually removed from the endangered species

list and is expected to soon be taken off the threatened species

list, according to the National Fish and Wildlife Service.

The eagle spotted here is part of a managed program on Catalina,

said Peter Sharp of the Institute for Wildlife Studies.

After eagles mate on the island, 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 on the

island, where they live until they learn how to fly. K13 is believed

to have been released in 2001.

The eagle is a male without a mate and estimated to weigh between

8 and 9 pounds.

“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 pointed out

that she didn’t spot the bird 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.”