Date: 3/30/26 7:47 pm From: 'PAUL ROBERTS' via Arlington Birds <arlingtonbirds...> Subject: [Arlington Birds] Tales of Eagle Life on the Mystic & in Washington, D.C.
I've not heard anything regarding the test/necrospy results for FAE, the adult female Bald Eagle who died on the Mystic Lakes several weeks ago. I will share any news when it is received. Meanwhile, KZ is still paired with Salt, an unbanded eagle apparently about to turn four years old. Salt is so-named because when I first saw her I thought it was FAE standing up in the nest, perhaps making her first nest exchange of the new breeding year. When I saw smudges on the eagle's forehead and behind her eyes, I knew something had happened to FAE. When the new female leaped into the air, I saw her torso but especially her underwings were rife with "salt" marks, white patches obvious when the bird is molting into its "Definitive Basic Plumage." This bird unmistakably was not FAE. Without top optical equipment or cameras the streaking on the crown and the smudges behind here eye and on the edges of her tail might not be visible at a distance, so she can look like a full adult. However, when you see her underside, abundant "salt specks" can be obvious in flight in good light. (She will probably lose those salt marks in a year or two.) A wonderful article on a Bald Eagle nest in Washington D.C. offers insights into how complex eagles can be, and how each bird can have a distinctive personality, more obvious with growing familiarity. The article should available free from the Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2026/03/30/bald-eagle-mr-president-national-arboretum/ If you cannot access it, it is available on my Facebook Page, open to all. Meanwhile, KZ's life is in a state of dynamic flux. Almost everything has changed suddenly. His behavior is quite different. I don't like to anthropomorphize "too much" or to think of him as a pet or a human being. He is an amazingly beautiful and complex Bald Eagle, and I would like to better understand his uniqueness as an eagle. I think he really is in mourning. With the exception of the nest, he now rarely perches where he and FAE usually perched. Instead of declaring his ownership of the lakes from THE Eagle tree, he now frequently perches on a tree almost half a mile away, and much farther from public view. Other perches he frequented with FAE he now appears to avoid. He lost his mate and the eggs he thought were imminent, so he doesn't seem to patrol and defend his territory as he did just three weeks ago. Several times juveniles and one-year-olds have physically invaded his nest and he wasn't there to drive them out. In the last day or two, that might be changing, but we shall see. Before FAE passed, one of KZ & FAE's offspring from last year's clutch returned to the Mystic Lakes. 76/C, a juvenile about to turn one, has returned to the lakes and remained in the vicinity. She arrived while the lakes were iced up and soared over the boat club "bubbler pool" that kept ice from forming near the dock on the upper lake. At least twice KZ aggressively drove 76/C from the limited open water on the lake. 76/C began perching on THE tree where he saw Mom and Dad perch so often. Several weeks ago, 76/C flew directly to the nest and perched on the 10 o'clock branch, like her mother. KZ saw this and shot down the lake like a bullet. 76/C saw (and probably heard) KZ coming and fled out of the area. Message received. However, 76/C is still fishing and perching in the area, a mid-sized dark juvenile with a dark bib and a dark tawny lower breast and belly, which are about to fade considerably over the next year. Salt has proven to be successful at catching large fish. She and KZ have copulated multiple times and in the last day or two have appeared to pay some attention to the condition of the nest. I think the odds of Salt laying viable eggs are not good, and the odds of any eggs hatching worse. Many eagles, including pairs formed over months instead of two weeks, are not successful in their first year or two of nesting. However, they gain invaluable experience, knowledge, and insight that makes them better parents in future years. And then there are the personalities of individual eagles. (Look at the experiences of First Lady and Lotus.) Will KZ and Salt remain on the Mystic Lakes? Will Salt really bond with KZ? We can only wait and see. Remember that MK & KZ had a traumatic event in their first nest. They abandoned that nest and built an entirely new nest about a half mile away the next winter, stealing that site from a pair of Red-tailed Hawks that had nested there for several years. The first pair of Bald Eagles to "own" the lakes about a decade ago started to build a nest there, but decided to move into a prebuilt home in an old Great Blue Heron nest on Spot Pond. That nest failed the first year, and earlier the second year. The pair apparently "divorced" the third year. (It is not clear if they might have attempted to nest but failed again and separated for good, or if one of the mates didn't return for some reason.) Best,Paul Paul M. Roberts Medford, MA <phawk254...>
