Golden eagle pair spotted

I have received numerous reports of a pair of golden eagles flying over the Sunrise Pass, Fremont Street and the East Valley Road area. I am not sure I would be able to tell them apart from a large hawk, so I set out on a mission to find out more about the golden eagles and here is some of what I learned.

The first thing I learned was that a golden eagle can live 15 to 20 years. They are about 3-feet-long with a wingspan of up to 7 feet. They have unique wing feathers that look like spread out like finger tips. When they fly over your head they appear to be slightly V-shaped because their body is low with their wing tips up. The female is larger than the male. They have excellent eyesight, eight times better than ours; they can see a squirrel a mile away. They don't mate until they are about 4 years old and often keep the same mate for life. Eagles usually lay one to three eggs and they hatch about four days a part. After the eggs hatch, the babies stay in the nest for about nine to 11 weeks. Their nests have to have protection from the sun so they usually build a nest in crags or cliff faces and sometimes in a tree, like the picture above. They return to the same nest year after year, like the hawks. The golden eagles live in the hills where the terrain is rugged and the updrafts are plentiful. I would say that's right here in our beautiful Valley for sure. For their diet, they like foxes, cats, skunks, squirrels, crows, pheasant and snakes. Their hunting territory can be as much as 162 square miles.

I won't tell you where this nest is, but, it was easy to find after I read up on the needs of these magnificent birds. Keep a lookout for them and in case you find them nibbling on a "road pizza," don't hit them, they need our protection.

Road department

Thank you to the road department. They have been out on the "freeway" a.k.a. East Valley Road, widening the road by 3 feet on each side and making the dip on each side a little more mellow. For those of us who use this road often, now is the time to contact the County Manager Dan Holler and ask for "share the road" signs to be put up, and a line to be painted down the center. East Valley is a real road and the traffic has been terrible. It should look like a real road and it will be safer.

-- Lisa Welch is a Johnson Lane resident and can be reached at 267-9350.