Home»Llano River Bald Eagles 2009-2010

Since 2003 a family of Bald Eagles has built/maintained this nest on the Llano River, Llano County, Llano, Texas. Just nine miles east of Llano on Texas Highway 29, this family can be viewed each winter from the roadside viewing area approximately 135 yards from the nest in a large pecan tree. So far there have been 11 eaglets raised in this nest.

In January 2007 just after a single eaglet hatched, the female disappeared. The adult male continued his vigil guarding, hunting, and feeding the eaglet all by himself. Near the end of January a stray eagle showed up but was initially rejected by the male. Soon, they became acquainted as the new adult eagle turned out to be a female. They both started caring for the young eaglet and became life-long partners. As a team they have raised 6 additional eaglets from this nest.

This adult male has nested in this location now for eight years; the female has nested here with him for four years. This is the same couple that you see in these photographs. This series begins with nest rebuilding in late October and carries you through the winter nesting, hatching, feeding, and fledging of two healthy eaglets. Their solo flights actually occurred the first week of March. They should return this year in late September/early October again to begin improvements on the nest. After years of improvements this nest is estimated to weigh about 750 lbs.


The slideshow consists of 193 photos taken around the nest between 23 October 2009 - 27 February 2010 in all kinds of weather and lighting conditions. Most of these photos were shot between 120 - 160 yards, all with a digital SLR and 500mm lens.

To view, when the link opens, click on the "Slideshow" tab in the upper right of your screen and it will play automatically. Once the show starts, move your cursor towards the upper right of the screen and under "Options" select "Very Fast" ... otherwise it will play "Very Slow" ... and you may become "Very Bored"!!