Bald Eagles Build Nest in Seven Islands Area of Knoxville

A very interesting story appeared in today’s Knoxville News Sentinel about a pair of eagles raising two eaglets this spring high above the waters of the French Broad River in the Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge of Knox County. The public park is a first-class research and educational facility for the benefit of wildlife, and this is the first time eagles have been known to nest here.

Eagle’s nests are the largest nests built by any bird. They use sticks from the ground or from broken tree limbs to construct the huge things and the construction can take from a few days to months. They are enlarged each year they are used and they typically can be as large as 5 to 7 feet is diameter and 3 to 4 feet tall. The largest on record was 9 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall. The oldest at 34 years was estimated to weigh over 2,000 pounds!

Linda Claussen, whose family gave part of the land for the refuge, discovered eagles carrying sticks to enlarge a nest in the spring of 2004. She also saw a pair in the throes of courtship with the aerial tumbling and foot grasping they are known for. But no eaglets appeared until this past spring, so she assumes that the pair were immature and not the 4 to 6 years of age it takes before they are capable of reproducing.

Since April, when the eaglets were discovered at the refuge, they have grown out of the nest and have been seen flying up and down the river with their parents and no new pair of courting eagles has approached the nest. Obviously the refuge hopes the nest will be used again and that Knox County will grow more familiar with the birds.