May 3, 2016 update. Adam W. has gone up the tree and installed the base, upon which tree branches will be tied-down onto it, to create something we hope will seem reasonable for eagles to use. There’s a blue diagrammed piece added into the photo, where I’m asking for some additional metal added.
More remarkable pictures. Don cut off the treetop, as part of the process that will mount a cellphone booster antenna, install a safer platform to stand-on up there, and put an eagle nest site at the top.
Look closely to see Don at the top of the tree.
( an earlier post shows the bottom of the tree, and the ladder building process. )
Here’s the piece that was cut off.
The view from up high.
Here’s the ladder as it nears the top.
And Don took a selfie at the top.
And here’s the link to the earlier post on this topic, showing the process of building the ladder up the tree, and how tall it really is. ladder up a tree.
Why? The practical reason is to put a cellphone booster antenna up high enough to have line-of-sight to the telus tower at the south of Chemainus, so that reliable cellphone service is available on my side of the island. When I’m on-call, I need cellphone to be reliable, and it hasn’t been. The house is not in line-of-site to the tower.
Also, Bald eagles like a flat place to build their nests at tree tops. Here’s a link about monitoring eagle nest sites on Gabriola island. natural nests are quite large. Google images of bald eagle nests.
July 17, 2015 update. Next steps, a platform for humans to stand on, installed up high.
Just think of the courage to install that, then stand on it for the first time. It gives a much different view of the ferry.
Here’s a good view of the entire tree.
I think the antenna needs it’s wires protected, and the mount strengthened, and put below the platform, so that Eagles don’t destroy it.
We should aim the antenna at the tower.
For the artificial eagle nest, I propose building a metal support like these examples,
Then humans would interlock wood sticks above it, and hopefully the eagles would finish build it themselves.
I suggest the artificial nest be NOT centered over the platform for standing. If it’s asymetrical, then humans would be able to stand and look into the nest properly.
A few words about bald eagles
I learned recently that bald eagles might lay more eggs than they want, and then choose the healthiest chick to raise, and discard weaker baby eagles out of the nest.
I heard this happened a few months ago, to one of my neighbors on the island. They found a baby eagle, alive, below a tree. They watched it from a distance for a while, to realize it was starving and abandoned by it’s parents. So they phoned the provincial animal services and they took it away to a center for care of wildlife.
If our artificial eagle nest up a tree should eventually become successfully nested, I think I will install a net to catch falling baby chicks, thereby saving them from become Otter food. Maybe someone would adopt an eagle for Falconry, if that is legal. I’ll have to check on that.
