Eagles in The City

• Author: WantsToTravelMore
• Accommodation: Vancouver

Local and foreign news has been covering the birth of eagles in Sidney BC, on Vancouver Island, that has been on a live web cam provided by the Hancock Wildlife Foundation.  This is a remarkable way to watch bald eagles.

In Vancouver, however, you don’t need to go further than Vanier Park, which is on the north side of English Bay and is right next to the Burrard Street Bridge.  It’s not exactly a peaceful in the summer down there.  The tree the birds nest in is close to where cars park when they come to the annual Shakespeare Festival, Bard on the Beach.

For the last couple of years, the Stanley Park Ecology Society has tracked nests of eagles in Vancouver.  According to their records, The Vanier Park eagles have produced 5 fledgling birds since 2003.

The pictures with this article were taken on Valentine’s Day, 2009, which seems appropriate considering how snugly the birds look on top of the totem pole. This totem pole, if I remember the plaque correctly, is 100 feet high in commemoration of the centennial of the colony of British Columbia.  It’s located just a short eagle flight away from their nest and is right in front of the entrance to the Maritime Museum.

There’s something stirring, stunning and awesome to have such magnificent birds in such a metropolitan area.