Golfers at Holmes Park Golf Course have a chance to view the United States’ national bird up close.
A bald eagle nest with three eaglets is located south of hole 13’s putting green. Two of the eaglets remain high up in the tree while the third has been seen prancing around the tree trunks.
In the meantime, golfers are being redirected around the nesting area on the south side of the trees rather than crossing west to get to hole 14. Signage blocking off the area says it will be off limits until July 15.
Joel Jorgensen, the nongame bird manager for Nebraska Game and Parks, said this is the third year in a row that bald eagles have nested at Holmes Golf Course. The first year was unsuccessful for eaglets.
“Bald eagles have been shown to be very comfortable around humans as long as people give them a little bit of space and let them do their thing,†Jorgensen said.
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Bald eagles typically nest in cottonwood trees close to water, with the majority of nesting eagles in Nebraska finding homes along the Platte and Missouri rivers and large reservoirs.
Jorgensen said Nebraska had its first successful bald eagle nest in 1991 after nearly a century. In 1978, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the species as endangered. However, when the eagles started to return, Jorgensen said they came back strong.
“We monitored bald eagle nests for quite a while and stopped doing it around 2016 because they recovered and it was getting to be too many nests to track,†Jorgensen said.
Today, he estimates over 300 nesting pairs across the state. With so many bald eagles nesting, the primo spots are scarce.
“We’re seeing more and more bald eagles nest in sort of suburban and urban settings like this,†Jorgensen said.
Disturbing nesting bald eagles is a violation of federal law. Jorgensen said the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which was established in 1940, was critical at the time to keep bald eagles from going extinct.
“It’s still an important law,†Jorgensen said. “Even though protecting all wildlife is important, when you have a federal law in place, it kind of means you have to.â€