Photos by Simone Heinrich, Jasper Local wildlife photographer

Although it may seem like this pair of bald eagles are pushing the season, showing up to their Medicine Lake home while we are still snowshoeing to Watchtower Canyon and skate skiing down the snow-covered mudflats below their sizeable nest, these two have a deadline to meet. They are preparing for an eaglet that will grow from a hatchling to adult size, ready to fly away by late summer before freezing temperatures and snow return. 

First on the agenda are the courtship rituals. They may be seen perching together or soaring in the sky as a pair, where they can be spotted locking talons and tumbling down toward the ground. They may also be seen adding sticks to the nest and making adjustments to the prodigious pile. 

The Medicine Lake eagles are in a prime viewing location on Maligne Lake Road and, with their large bodies and bright white heads and tails, they’re highly visible. For the first two or three years after their arrival this pair were unsuccessful nesters, perhaps due to disturbances from their human admirers. Bald eagles prefer to have at least 300 metres between us and them. In response, an area was blocked off by Jasper National Park wildlife specialists. Happily, the pair was successful and every year since, this pair has raised one eaglet to fledging stage—meaning the young bird is able to fly and leave the nest.

But it almost didn’t happen in 2015. In early July of that year, a wildfire started in the Excelsior Creek drainage and burned north along the west side of Medicine Lake, directly across the lake from the nest. At some point during the evening, the fire crossed the road to the east side and burned north, reaching the nesting area. The eaglet was not yet able to fly and rode out the worst of the smoke, flame and heat in the nest at the top of the tree. Although the bottom half of the tree was left charred, it did not burn all the way up to the nest. The parents were observed returning the next day to resume the feeding schedule, the eaglet survived seemingly uninjured and left the nest on schedule some weeks later.  

If you are stopping by to view the Medicine Lake eagles, just keep in mind that they are on a deadline and they have their Do Not Disturb sign up until August.  

Trish Tremblay // info@thejasperlocal.com