January, 2012

Every time I travel across the 520 Bridge from Clyde Hill to Seattle my trip is more than worth the brand new tolls if I see one of our resident 520 Bridge Eagles. A little background. A pair of eagles, with a nest in the UW Arboretum just southwest of the 520 Bridge has held court on the fountains and several light standards on the western end of the bridge. For several years motorists were delighted by Eddie and Ethel, the stalwart pair, who blithely ignored the zooming traffic passing just below them and made their living on the salmon swimming in Lake Washington below. On August 2, 2011, perhaps overfed with a recent gorging on a delicious Canada goose or coho salmon, Eddie was perched on the railing of the bridge, only a matter of a foot or two of passing traffic. Unfortunately he took off just as a Metro Bus was passing by, and collided with the windshield of the bus. 520 commuters and all who loved Eddie and Ethel were devastated. Now it is said that eagles mate for life. And Ethel, unable to tune into news radio, or local television news, nor to read the Seattle Times waited patiently for Eddie to return. Day after day she sat atop their favorite light standard above the bridge.....and watched. After a week or so, however, Ethel disappeared. Nobody saw an eagle on the bridge for the next two months. And then.......in mid October, what did commuters see, but Ethel returned to her command post with a HUGE new mate. They have been there ever since. We have named him Ernest, and this blog will be a record of my trips across the 520 Bridge, my sightings of these magnificent birds, and their activities.