Back when I used to lead eagle and swan trips for the bird store we would always make a stop to a really huge bald eagle nest near Treasure Island Casino. It was so big we would just tell people that we weren't going to point out the nest and just wait for them to notice it. Eyes would furtively move around and then you would hear "WOW! There it is!!"

Every year, my friend Amber and I would marvel that the dead tree was still able to support the additions the eagles made to it. This photo was taken three years ago. It was larger still last spring.

Today after banding at Carpenter Nature Center I drove over to Treasure Island to see how it lasted the summer and it was gone, the tree and all. You can't see it in this photo, but an eagle is sitting in a tree near where the old nest was.

I wonder when it fell? Hopefully either before eggs hatched or after young fledged. I'm bummed that such a large and easily accessible nest is gone, but I know the eagles will rebuild. They started this last nest after an old nearby nest fell, eagles are used to this routine. This happens in the wild, a storm knocks a nest down and the birds build a new one before the next season.

That's what kind of irked my about the whole Pale Male fiasco. Yes, it was a shame that people removed the red-tailed hawk nest and what a shame to lose a fun tourist attraction, but it was no different than if a storm had knocked the nest down. The birds are hard wired to deal with that type of thing and would have rebuilt another nest nearby.

It will be interesting to see where the eagles rebuild the Treasure Island nest.