Vanier Park is located on the waterfront in Vancouver. It can be seen from the Burrard St. Bridge and overlooks the Children’s Festival, Bard on the Beach and the Seawall leading from Granville Island to Kitsilano Beach. It has several attractions - the Vancouver Museum, the Maritime Museum, and the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium. The nest itself resides in a relatively "short" deciduous tree that overhangs a 4-way stop in a large parking lot with a few small dividers with trees. The eagle couple is relatively inexperienced, but persistent!

Vanier Park Nest History – (found in more detail in the Stanley Park Ecology Society annual reports)

2003: No records

2004: Despite regular eagle sightings throughout the spring and summer, no eaglets were seen at this nest. Adults were not observed incubating in the nest either.

2005: The Vanier Park Nest produced and successfully fledged a pair of eaglets for the first time in the 2 years it had been monitored.

2006: Two eaglets fledged from this nest although one fell from its nest and was taken to OWL (Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society) until it was strong enough to be released.

2007: Young were successfully hatched in 2007, but for unknown reasons they did not survive their first couple of weeks.

2008: One eaglet was fledged. However it fell from its nest prematurely and was found by Vancouver Park Rangers under the nest tree. It was transferred to wildlife rehabilitators at OWL where it was raised for a few months. In August it was released into Stanley Park by Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES) staff and volunteers.

2009: Two chicks were successfully raised until fledging age. In mid-March of 2009, the eagle pair was observed incubating and the chicks were hatched around April 6th. By June 30th both chicks had learned to fly from the nest, but they were observed hanging around the nest site for nearly a month before they finally left the area.

To read and view observations and pictures of the Vanier Park nest for the last three eagle nesting seasons on the HWF "old" forum click Vanier Park nest - 2007/2009.

To start off the new Vanier Park Eagles thread, here are some pictures taken and submitted by Martin Passchier of the Stanley Park Ecology Society.

My friend went to the nest just before the Olympics and everything looked fine. He went back yesterday and could tell there was something wrong with the nest. He emailed another eagle watcher that he met last year and found out that a supporting branch broke off during the past week or so and part of the nest has collapsed. He sent me a picture and it's not as deep as it used to be, and part of it has fallen off. It almost looks like it slid backward and is resting against another branch. It looks dangerous and I think it could come down if there is a wind storm.

The man he spoke to said he saw an adult in the nest about 2 weeks ago, so unfortunately there may be been eggs but they didn't survive. My friend went down twice yesterday and didn't see any eagles in the area. Another person said he has seen the female recently at Granville Island on the mast of a sailboat. I know the fishermen there feed the eagles scraps as I've read about it in a couple of places.

I am not sure if someone needs to be notified about the nest. I also have a couple of questions:

Assuming the eggs were lost, can the eagles lay any more eggs or is that it for this year?

How long would it take for them to build a new nest from scratch?

Needless to say, we are really sad about this news but it isn't overly surprising. Last year a pretty good sized branch broke off while my friend was down there so the tree might be damaged. I just hope they can rebuild somewhere nearby so we can follow them again.

Hi Ian,

I haven't been on the forum for a few days but there have been developments! Since my last post, the eagles have been rebuilding. Someone has watched them go over to Stanley Park and come back with twigs and branches and the nest looks a lot better than it did a few days ago. Another person has seen the adults go back and forth and it seems they are either incubating or about to. I think at this point, we can only hope the branches can continue to support the nest.

Quote by: iansmith

Dropped by this morning. Didn't see any eagles, or hear anything. But I did get a new picture of the nest. It looks ok, I think they have done a good job of rebuilding. Next stop Jericho. (I'll post the photo in a little while.)

Hi Ian,

My friend was down there around 1 pm Pacific time and he didn't see them either. He went to Jericho after that but I haven't heard from him in the past hour or so.

Parked at this nest around 11:30 this morning for 15 minutes. I saw a little bit of yellow between the branches of the nest. Could have been a beak, or wishful thinking. However, I also heard the eagle calling, so there's a bird in the nest.

Quote by: iansmith

Parked at this nest around 11:30 this morning for 15 minutes. I saw a little bit of yellow between the branches of the nest. Could have been a beak, or wishful thinking. However, I also heard the eagle calling, so there's a bird in the nest.

Excellent news, Ian!

Quote by: iansmith

Finally. Dropped by the Vanier nest on the way home from work this evening. There's the eagle sitting in the tree just above the nest. I guess they were waiting for Bard on the Beach to arrive. (all the tents are set up now.) Sorry all I had was the Blackberry to get a quick picture. This is taken from the East parking lot (towards granville island). You'll have to trust me, that black blob with the white head is an eagle. What a relief I've heard the one in the nest a few times, but until now I wasn't fully convinced that I could believe what I was hearing.

Fantastic! Hopefully the nest is okay and everything will go according to plan and we'll have eaglets in a few weeks!