Students, teachers and parents at Curtner Elementary School have noticed a couple of new residents on campus since last week. They have noted a pair of bald eagles have taken up residence in a cluster of pine trees on campus, located at 275 Redwood Ave.

Curtner Principal Jackie Vo-Felbinger said she doesn’t have a lot of information about the school’s new residents, but noted a parent living across the street was observing them for the last three weeks.

“We’ve had many parents come out and take pictures and some teachers have been taking their students to observe the eagles and their nests. We’ve seen two nests in two separate trees and two eagles are often found sitting together in one of the trees.,” Vo-Felbinger said in an email on Friday.

Bald eagles, which are distinguished by a white head and white tail feathers, were on the Endangered Species Act list until 2007, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Bald eagles, often thought of as America’s symbol of strength and majesty after being selected as this country’s national emblem in 1782, are a protected species, which makes bothering or attempting to move them illegal.

Additionally, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, originally passed in 1940, provides for the protection of the bald eagle and the golden eagle by prohibiting the take, possession, sale, purchase, barter, transport, export or import, of any bald or golden eagle, alive or dead, including any part of a nest or egg, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Violating provisions of this act may lead to a maximum fine of $5,000 or one year imprisonment. A second conviction would see a $10,000 fine or not more than two years in prison. Felony convictions carry a maximum fine of $250,000 or two years of imprisonment. Rewards are provided for information leading to arrest and conviction for violators of the act.

Andrew Hughan, a California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson, said bald eagles are making a comeback.

“We are seeing them where we haven’t seen them in decades,” Hughan said, adding it was amazing there were bald eagles nesting at Curtner, though still close enough to the large body of water to the west of the city limits. “For an eagle, Milpitas is 30 seconds from the Bay so there is plenty for it to eat.

“So if that nesting pair decided they wanted to live (here), there is food, water and shelter and they feel safe, they will build their nest and lay eggs,” Hughan said. “That’s great.”

Saying humans should leave the birds alone, he noted Curtner’s students and teachers would not have to alter their behavior with the eagles’ nests so close by.

“It should be a really good teaching moment for kids for years to come,” Hughan said. Still, he added it might be a bit of a hassle for the campus because they cannot trim or do any work to the area the eagles have claimed for their home.

Stan Szeto, a Curtner parent and freelance photographer for the Post, said he saw the eagles last week after walking his son to school.

“As they were doing the pledge of allegiance a bald eagle flew really low, maybe six feet above the kids’ heads, it took a diver and it was really iconic,” Szeto said. “As one of the kids was holding the American flag this bald eagle fell through.”

A Milpitas resident since 1981, Szeto said he’s never seen a bald eagle in this area.

Curtner first-grader Russell Szeto, who also saw the eagles on the tree, said he watched as they used twigs and branches to build nests.

“I saw one,” Russell Szeto, 6, said. “It was brown and white. They were just standing there.”

When asked how seeing the eagles made him feel, Russell Szeto said, “I want to fly.”

Milpitas Vice Mayor Marsha Grilli said she had seen a bald eagle in the Hall Memorial Park Lagoon, which is adjacent to Curtner Elementary.

“I was fascinated by his presence in our neighborhood and in awe of the beauty of such a magnificent bird as he flew over the park,” Grilli said.

Experts say the number of bald eagles in the wild is growing after almost being decimated due to habitat destruction, illegal shooting and poisoning from pesticides like DDT, among other detrimental actions.

“Today, Americans can enjoy seeing more bald eagles than at any time in the past 50 years. Populations, nearly extinct in the lower 48 states in the 1960s, now number at least 143,000 individuals,” Laury Marshall Parramore, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson, said.

A population number for the bald eagles in California was not available from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by press time.