A bald eagle appears to have taken up residence along St. Paul’s Lake Phalen, and viewing it can be fairly easy if its habits continue.

Around sunrise Friday — and for several previous days as well, according to some residents — the eagle was perched high on a cottonwood tree overlooking East Shore Drive off the southeast shore of the lake, not far from a small public parking lot.

That also put the white-capped raptor easily within view of walkers, joggers and cyclists using the paved path that encircles the lake, and several stopped Friday morning to take what were undoubtedly challenging pictures for the limited optics of their cell phones. (The photo above was taken with a 400 mm telephoto lens, which looks like a small bazooka.)

The eagle also spent much of the morning on the opposite shore, on a limb atop a ridge on the western side the lake, which straddles the St. Paul-Maplewood border and is entirely within Phalen Regional Park. This perch, located just north of the beachouse, is next to a parking lot accessed off Wheelock Parkway.

Bald eagles, which are returning these days from their summer vacations, are no strangers to the lake, but it’s been at least several years since one nested there. Several residents have reported a nest in the area, but this reporter didn’t see one Friday morning, so it’s unclear if this bird will stay. For years, a pair of baldies have returned to a nest along the north shore of Keller Lake, near U.S. 61 and Minnesota 36. Keller lies north of Phalen and flows into it.

When the Phalen eagle is perched high, it’s safely away from people and pets. But should it land, to drink or eat, don’t approach it. Hassling it would be illegal and potentially dangerous — for the hassler.