BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A bald eagle whose longtime companion died of bird flu apparently has a new mate.
For at least eight years, a pair of bald eagles used an old railroad tower in Saucon Park in Bethlehem as a nesting site.
They added hundreds of sticks to construct a massive aerie overlooking a recently built Wawa convenience store and, more importantly, the nearby Saucon Creek and Lehigh River — both potential sources of food for young eaglets.
But on Valentine’s Day, tragedy struck when the female of the pair died, a victim of avian flu, according to the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center.
“That’s a very good sign.”Carl Safina, ecologist and writer
Conservationists from the center rescued the ailing and flightless female from the park, and tried to treat its symptoms before it died in quarantine at the center.
Susan Downing, co-executive director with the Stroudsburg-area nonprofit wildlife hospital, told LehighValleyNews.com that it might take six months to a year for the surviving eagle to find a new mate.
A new arrival
But less than a month after losing what appears to have been his longtime partner, a few Lehigh Valley birdwatchers have reported seeing a new adult female at the nest site.
Among the watchers was this reporter, who was able to observe and photograph courtship behavior that suggests an eagle prepared to love again.
Signs include one bird, presumed to be the surviving male, bringing a large stick to the nest, and carefully adjusting its placement.
“That’s a very good sign,” said ecologist and writer Carl Safina, who has extensive experience with birds of prey.
Within a couple of days of that episode of “home improvement,” the male was seen on a tower within sight of the nest, vocalizing to a female eagle who perched attentively nearby.
The male and female sport identical plumage, but Safina said “the females are bigger than the males,” and when they are perched together, the difference can be used to confirm their sex.
Safina said he can’t be sure there is enough time for the new pair to succeed in raising young this year but he does not think that it’s too late, “assuming they both survive the avian flu wave” that has affected thousands of birds in the Lehigh Valley.
Even if they don’t succeed this year, eagles are long-lived and “have time to try and try again,” he said.
“We’re all rooting for them.”
