Nick and Nora, the bald eagles of White Rock Lake, have had a busy couple of months.
Photo by Mark Fletcher.
The pair successfully fledged a pair of eaglets over the spring and summer. In October, however, the eagles’ run of good luck came to an end in late October when their nest in Lake Highlands park collapsed from the American Sycamore they have inhabited since at least early 2024.
Chris Morris, an urban biologist with Dallas Park and Recreation, says the former nest had been weakened during a 2024 Memorial Day storm that also caused the pair to lose an eaglet following a partial nest collapse. That, combined with heavy winds, was too much for the structure, he says.
“We had some straight line winds, and it gusted right underneath the remaining portion of the nest. It was kind of settled between those two limbs from the 24 storm,” Morris said. “The whole thing just slid down the tree.”
The pair have had difficulties with nesting in the past. Aside from the partial nest collapse in 2024 and subsequent loss of an eaglet, another nest collapsed in Lake Highlands park in 2022, with officials finding evidence of a single egg in the debris at the time.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bald eagle nests typically measure around 4 to 6 feet wide, 3 feet deep and can hold over 1000 pounds. The previous nest’s measurements could not be confirmed at the time of publication.
It has been speculated in the past that the pair are relatively younger and inexperienced nesters, with both of previous collapses occurring in older or dying trees that are not ideal for nesting, Morris says.
“They need to talk to their real estate and then also to whoever is the architect,” Morris says. “Our eagles are not the best at making nests, but then again, they’ve been successful in raising at least two different clutches.”
Fortunately, the eagles seem to be staying in the area and appear to have begun scouting out potential nesting sites shortly after the October collapse. The pair have been observed stocking sticks and other nesting materials at several sights on the east side of the lake, but seem to be sticking to a cottonwood grove closer to the water, he says.
“I can’t say that they don’t have some other projects, but there is one tree that, for probably the last month, they’ve gone decently hard almost daily to maybe every other day working on it,” Morris says. “It’s still not to the size of what a nest should be, but in the last week or so, it’s starting to kind of flush out and look pretty nice.”
If the eagles choose to make the site their full time nest for the hatching period, Morris says neighbors should expect to see it mostly completed within a month or two. Luckily, and unlike most bald eagles, Nick and Nora have historically laid eggs later in the hatching season, often around February.
“They’ve got plenty of time to make this hobble of stems and limbs into a nest,” Morris said.