Family of bald eagles thriving in The Woodlands

A bald eagle is seen near its nest by Lake Woodlands, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in The Woodlands. Two bald eagles have nested near The Woodlands United Methodist Church since 2000. A bald eagle is seen near its nest by Lake Woodlands, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in The Woodlands. Two bald eagles have nested near The Woodlands United Methodist Church since 2000. Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close Family of bald eagles thriving in The Woodlands 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

A family of bald eagles seems to be thriving as they make their home in a nest just a bird's-eye view from the busy shops and restaurants of Hughes Landing in The Woodlands Township.

When one of the eagles leaves the nest, which is high in a pine tree overlooking Lake Front Circle, and virtually in the shadow of a massive Hughes Landing parking garage, it puts on quite a show as it spreads its impressive wings and majestically soars above the roadway below.

A longtime observer of the raptors, retiree Randy Scott of The Woodlands is a regular visitor to the site. Scott has turned into a sort of a guardian of the birds and has been keeping an eye on the eagles for years, including the time they spent in a different nest in The Woodlands.

"At least 14 years, it may be 16 because the first I saw these eagles it was on East Shore before it was developed," Scott said of his keeping watch on the birds.

EAGLES PUT ON IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY AS THEY FLY ABOUT

Standing in a nearby parking lot watching the eagles soar aloft Thursday morning, Feb. 1, Scott noted how one adult appeared to be flying off in search of food for the couple's two young birds, while the other eagle remained nearby, apparently to protect their babies, possibly from hawks, which are known to prey on young eagles. Scott and others believe the two young birds have hatched about a month ago.

As for protecting the eagle family from the disturbances generated by humans, Scott has started the Facebook page "Save The Woodlands Eagles." The page has etiquette tips for how to watch the eagles, while not disrupting their peace and quiet.

"The idea here is to protect the eagles, not to have people running around getting all excited," Scott said.

Only a handful of Woodlands residents knew the eagles had found a home and built a nest in the township until word spread a few years ago. There are also additional eagle families in The Woodlands Township.

Donna Anderson, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said there are four nests in the township.

"They're all pretty well established on private land and we don't disclose their locations," Anderson said. In all, the service is monitoring about 35 nests in the Houston area, with the agency getting reports weekly of new nests, she noted.

Scott said he was aware of additional nests in The Woodlands, but would not reveal their exact locations.

'PROTECTION ZONE' KEEPS PEOPLE AT A DISTANCE

As for the eagles living near Hughes Landing, a fence put up to establish a "protection zone" keeps onlookers from getting too close.

The fence, which is several feet high, stretches across an area that encloses about 4 acres, according to the environmental manager for The Woodlands Development Co., Fred LeBlanc. Of course people can still see the raptors from the adjacent street.

"The birds have been very tolerant of people throughout their whole history," LeBlanc said, adding the development company has been coordinating protection of the birds with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since the birds first showed up in the area, which he said was in 1999.

On week day mornings, a few people-some of them photographers equipped with especially long lenses-gather in the parking lot of the adjacent Loft Church in the hopes of getting a glimpse of the bald eagles. Casual observers also come by. On one morning, a mother pointed out the nest to her young son as both watched in apparent awe of the birds.

A regular visitor to the site is professional photographer Isabelle Lataste, who moved to the Houston area from France a few years ago. Having shot a series of stunning photos of the birds, Lataste admits to being awestruck by the creatures.

"I'm an eagle-holic," Lataste confessed.

"I spend all my day here to take pictures and video of them," she added. "I call them Martha and George Washington [the adult birds] because it was Martha Washington who decided the bald eagle would be the emblem in America."

But Lataste said she stays away from the site on weekends because of the number of people who gather in the church parking lot and walk along the adjoining sidewalk to take a look at the birds.

"Weekends you have a lot of people and it's too noisy," she said.

BALD EAGLES BACK FROM NEAR EXTINCTION

The bald eagle, which was chosen 1782 as the emblem of the United States, was once in danger of becoming extinct, with pesticide contamination in fish, the birds' preferred meal, being blamed for decimating its population.

After the number of eagles had dwindled to less than 500 nesting pairs in 1963, the raptor was placed on the he endangered species list. That protection resulted in what Fish and Wildlife Service officials describe on its website as a "remarkable recovery."

With its population rebounding, the eagle was taken off the list in 2007, but still has special federal protections under Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

Anderson said The Woodlands Township and the region, with its lakes and pine forests, provides an ideal habitat for the eagle population to continue its recovery.

"Locally its seems to be a very robust population, at least for the Houston area," Anderson said.

Meanwhile, although photographers and others are thrilled by the daily show put on by the eagle family, bird lovers remain saddened by the death of a bald eagle found injured in the Village of Panther Creek in October, 2017. The Courier of Montgomery County reported that the bird was taken to an animal rescue hospital in Conroe, but had to be euthanized because veterinarians felt its injuries were too severe for it to recover. Though eagles typically feed on fish, they sometimes eat roadkill, leading to the belief that eagle was hit by a car.

Scott speculated that bird may have been the previous mate of the male eagle near the Hughes Landing site.

"You can't identify them, but during the normal nesting time in November the birds were not seen here at the nest," Scott said. "So it's my speculation that the male went and a found a mate."