When Eddie, one of Broadmoor's breeding pair of bald eagles, died in a tragic mishap on the floating bridge last summer, it was unknown whether his mate would return to the nest that they had shared for many years. She definitely did disappear from the scene, but there was good reason to hope for her return. In cases such as these, we were told, it is typical for the female to leave the area in order to search for a new mate. If successful in that quest, she will often return to the nest with the new male. Bald eagles mate for life.
For several months we have been hearing about the sightings of a lone eagle perched on a lamppost above the 520 floating bridge, but there are other breeding pairs of eagles in the general area and the initial reports from the Broadmoor ground crew were negative with regard to a permanent eagle presence at the golf course. So for some time it has not been clear whether Eddie had a replacement in the Broadmoor nest or just a successor to his old role of bridge sentinel.
Now, however, we seem to have confirmation that the nest, located at the golf course's 11th tee, is again inhabited. The photo above, taken by our "staff photographer" from a position at 38th Avenue and E. McGraw Street, shows two eagles perched in the tree above the nest. Moreover, we have reports from Broadmoor that in addition to the two adults, there are also two fledglings in the eagle family.
So for Eddie's mate it appears that life goes on. And for the rest of us, so does the show.
[Thanks to our "staff photographer" (and confidential informant), and to Broadmoor resident Laura Halliday for helping us get to the bottom of this story.]
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