The eaglets at White Rock Lake have started branching out.
Photo by Mark Fletcher.
Members of the Facebook group “White Rock Lake! thats my hood…” began sharing videos of at least one of the two juvenile bald eagles flapping their wings and hopping to nearby branches of the American sycamore where their nest is located on May 15. The branching was confirmed by Dallas Park and Recreation urban biologist Chris Morris.
“Two chicks have been seen walking on the edges of the nest and venturing out on the tree limbs.” Morris said via text message. “Only two seen, so probably was always two chicks in 2025.”
Branching behavior is one of the first steps towards powered flight, which Morris told the Advocate in March should be seen by early summer. After becoming capable of powered flight, the eaglets will learn to hunt alongside the adult eagles before eventually setting off on their own sometime before fall.
The two eaglets, along with the adult bald eagles known as ‘Nick and Nora,’ can be followed with a YouTube livestream, which is available during most sunlight hours.
They have also seemingly been named, like their parents, by some of the neighbors and enthusiasts following their progression. One has been dubbed Dixon, presumably for the branch of White Rock Creek bearing the same name, while the other has acquired the bittersweet (too soon?) moniker of ‘Luka’.
It’s a poignant time for many of the White Rock Lake eagle enthusiasts, who probably remember when ‘Nick and Nora’ lost one of their eaglets in the May 28 storm of last year. Fortunately, the eagles and their nest seem to have been mostly unaffected by heavy storms so far this year, with one YouTube short of ‘Dixon and Luka’ appearing to show the juveniles enjoying stormy weather to the tune of “Singin’ in the Rain”.
