On Saturday, July 12th and Sunday, July 13th Oncor, a local utility company, relocated a bald eagle nest at the John Bunker Wetland Center in Seagoville, Texas. The relocation effort was a cooperative effort that included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Arlington Ecological Services Field Office, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Migratory Bird Program, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Falcon Steel and the John Bunker Sands Wetland Center.
In 2012, a pair of bald eagles built a nest on an electric transmission tower at the John Bunker Sands Wetland Center. The eagle’s nest was brought to the attention of Oncor in 2013, when the eagles returned to the nest on the tower. Representatives of Oncor contacted the Service to report the nest and request assistance in protecting the nest. Oncor and the Service were concerned about the location of the eagle’s nest because it was built on a 345 kilovolt transmission line. This presented a danger to the eagles and their offspring should the transmission line need emergency maintenance from a power outage. Oncor and the Service worked together to develop a plan to protect the eagles by installing an identical “dummy” transmission tower near the original nest location and move the existing nest to the new tower after the eaglets fledged. The “dummy” tower used was generously donated by Falcon Steel.
Oncor and the Service intended to move the nest in 2013, however, the eagles returned to the empty nest much sooner than anticipated and the re-location effort had to be postponed until the completion of the nest cycle in 2014. Representatives from Oncor monitored the nest for the last several weeks and in early July, two eagles successfully fledged and became fully independent, providing Oncor an opportunity to transfer the nest. The Service greatly appreciates Oncor’s commitment to work with us to protect the eagles at the John Bunker Sands Wetland Center. We look forward to the return of the eagles next year to their safer nest location.
