Wildlife agencies investigate how, and why, the nest at the Grey Oaks subdivision came down.
By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published September 12, 2004
EAST LAKE - As nesting season draws near, an American bald eagle pair is back to reclaim the territory where they raised three young last year.
But most of their former nest is down, a jumble of sticks at the foot of a tall pine.
The eagles in the Grey Oaks subdivision off East Lake Road have been a source of pride and contention in the enclave, where the 70-plus homes sell for $500,000 or more. Since the eagles chose Grey Oaks for nesting about 10 years ago, developers have watched the eagles fly through a zone of protection that keeps 34 home sites vacant.
The nest apparently fell a few months ago, officials say. It might have fallen as a result of natural causes like rain or high winds. Still, state and federal wildlife officials are investigating.
A resident noticed that the nest was down and called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The week before Frances, state wildlife Officer Michael Dunnigan and another inspector went to the nest site.
Dunnigan said that they found the tree with most of the nest branches down. A stake flush with the ground nearby was spray-painted blue and the tree had a band of orange painted on it.
"I don't know if someone helped knock it down or not," he said. "It's been down so many months, it's hard to tell now."
He did find something else.
"There were marks on the tree, 4- or 5-inch thin, (horizontal) slices," he said. "Didn't look natural."
His investigation is continuing, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also will investigate.
"We'll get to the bottom of this," said Candace Martino, Florida bald eagle coordinator for the federal agency. Martino said she has been dealing with the controversy surrounding the nest for some time
"This has turned so ugly," she said.
On the north side of Grey Oaks Boulevard, across from a wrought-iron fence around the eagle preserve, developer Roy E. Shaffer Jr. owns eight lots. Pinellas County has said he can build on two of those. The rest cannot be built on while the eagles remain on the property or until they lose the protections they now have as a threatened species. Their threatened status is under evaluation by the federal government.
This spring, residents raised concerns about the proposed new homes, partly because they didn't want the eagles disturbed and partly because the new homes would mean development on what is now a heavily landscaped road leading to their neighborhood.
Martino said Shaffer has called her frequently, often to ask about the status of the eagle's protection. She said that a draft proposal to take bald eagles off the government's list of threatened species was scheduled to go out for comment soon, but then Washington recalled it for further study without explanation.
A flier circulated in the neighborhood has suggested that taking the bald eagle off the threatened species list might have been "too time-consuming for the developers," an insinuation that Shaffer finds insulting.
"I don't believe for a moment that anyone tore that nest down," he said. "I wouldn't do it. It's a dumb statement. It's asinine."
Shaffer said he worked with officials when the subdivision was originally developed, spent more than necessary on the fence around the eagle sanctuary and worked with the builder to limit construction to about 10 homes a year to minimize activity that could disturb the eagles.
It turns out Shaffer did order a survey to locate the nesting tree, so that authorities could more easily find it. Surveyors painted the tree and the stake.
Martino does not suspect Shaffer of causing the nest to come down.
"I can't believe Roy would do something like this," she said. "He knows the scrutiny this nest has received and he knows the consequences."
Shaffer, 62, offered to sell his eight lots to the residents in May for about half their value, $500,000. But residents have not been able to organize and raise the money.
The 9 acres in the eagle preserve are not owned by Shaffer, but he has an option to buy it by Sept. 30. Shaffer said he had been working with Pinellas County on a possible transfer of building density from the 28 preserve lots to other property in exchange for donating the acres to the county as a permanent preserve. Assistant county administrator Jake Stowers confirmed that he had spoken with Shaffer on the subject.
"Density can be moved from one project to another for environmental reasons; we do it all the time," Stowers said. "Roy actually really cared for those eagles. I've got photographs of the triplets that he gave me."
Accusations from Grey Oaks residents have Shaffer in a different mood for now. He feels he's put enough money and time into trying to work with them.
"Not all developers are crooked," he said. "Not all builders are crooked. If you can work together side-by-side, then you can live together. Otherwise, developers are just going to cut the trees down, do whatever they want to do."
Adam Smith Enterprises owns the 28 preserve lots, lots residents would like to see stay undeveloped. The president of the company is Lew Friedland. He said that he has heard that the nest is down and that the company has no immediate plans as a result. But the long-term plan is clear.
"I know all the rules," he said. "When the eagle goes away, we get to build on that property. Eagles don't live forever."
But eagle offspring sometimes return to the territory of their birth.
"What people need to understand is that the nest is the least important factor in their nesting territory," said Lynda White, Audubon coordinator for Florida's EagleWatchers, a group of volunteers who monitor eagle nests during nesting season.
The territory itself, the place where they hunt and fish, find water and safe trees for nesting and perching, is most critical, she said. Second, eagles need high trees for nesting. Third, they need nests.
Bald eagles build the largest nests in North America, sometimes 20 feet thick and 10 feet across. Yet they can build one in less than a week.
New EagleWatcher Barb Walker of East Lake has decided to start watching her territory, the one in Grey Oaks, a little earlier than usual this year. Nesting season officially starts Oct. 1. As she prepared to see what she could through her new Leica spotting scope Wednesday, a rainbow hung over the eagles' eden.
Resident Bill Veres was running by and stopped to talk with Walker.
He said the homeowners association president right now is builder Marc Rutenberg, but the homeowner's association will be turned over to the residents in October.
He hopes residents will then unite.
"If we could bring them together to help protect this bird," he said. "Then we could accomplish whatever we need to do."
