While in the last 20 years she has experienced her life in the eyes of the public, Redding’s most famous bald eagle is doing something that Eagle observers say is unprecedented this year.
The eagle, known as Liberty, lived until the approximate 26 -year -old, struggles with Caltrans’ efforts to drive her out of her nest, outlived two previous friends, and removed dozens of eggs that had hatched to increase the bald eagle population throughout the region.
But for the first time in at least 20 years, Liberty this year does not lay eggs in its nest right north of the bridge of the highway 44, which crosses the Sacramento River in Redding, according to Terry Luilier, who has observed the eagles all the time.
Redding Eagles friends have a camera placed high in cotton wood, right north of the 44 highway bridge. The camera transmits video on YouTube, giving viewers an intimate look at the socket activities that Liberty shares with its half, Guardian.
Lolier said freedom usually laid two to three eggs, with the first arriving sometime between February 6 and February 15. But that didn’t happen this year.
“Well, it came and left. No egg. And we go,” Okay, what’s going on? “And then it began to become later and later.
But March was coming and going and there were still no eggs, and with the closure of the egg laying window, Lhuillier said Liberty would not produce young this year.
“So we are in unexplored waters right now because we have never experienced it before,” she said.
Redding’s most development with Eagles limits a 12 -month change for birds. The couple’s two descendants died last May before being adult enough to leave the nest. And the tree where they had been inserted for many years was killed, and the branches where the nest was located was broken and fell in December 2024.
The famous bald pair of eagle, guardian on the left and freedom to the right, landed on a tree in Redding in March 2025.
Liberty and Guardian built a new nest in the nearby tree within the bridge, but all their work does not give eggs. Lhiullier said the lack of eggs is not the only problem facing freedom.
Another female bald eagle has appeared in the new nest and can fight for control, she said.
“Liberty and Guardian have been in defense. What we think can happen is what happened in 2013 with the first half of Liberty is that Liberty is challenged,” she said.
Liberty is 26 years old, so even if she survives a challenge from the younger woman, she may be at the end of her reproductive years, Lhuillier said.
“We do not know how it will end, but we are watching a lot of closely. None of us is ready for this chapter with our freedom to end, but we know that at one point it will have to happen. It was just such a constant in our lives,” Lhiullier said.
But David Hancock, who studied eagles from the 1950s and has been following about 65 eagle nests in Vancouver, the British Colombia region, said freedom may not be by laying eggs.
Hancock said he has known Lhiullier for many years and continues with what is happening with Redding Eagles. Liberty and Guardian may not have eggs this year, Hankok said, because of what happened with all the events around their nest in 2024 – namely the loss of their two descendants, the destruction of their old nest and has to recover.
“In all likelihood, she will lay eggs again next year,” Hankok said.
This is not the first time Liberty faced. In 2007, civil servants placed a large black plastic cone in Liberty’s nest to try to get her to leave. Caltrans wanted it to build a nesting down, as the agency plans to expand the bridge through the Sacramento River and did not want the noise and activity to violate nesting activities.
But Liberty and her half at that time, a patriot, began to build a new nest in the nearby tree. Then Caltrans destroyed the new nest. Then Lhuillier turned on.
Lhuilllier and her husband have been watching the Eagles for several years as they traveled to the area. So she was upset, Caltrans was trying to chase the eagles.
When he saw that crews were moving to disassemble the second nest, Lulier said she jumped into action.
“And then I said,” Okay, enough. You can’t do that. “I know there are laws protecting the eagles.
While bald eagles are no longer endangered, they are still protected federal and under state legislation.
She convinced Caltrans to leave the Eagles’ nest to stay, and Caltrans installs a camera to watch the nest and hand it online so that the public can watch the birds.
Redding Eagles friends, who also supports a Facebook page, has since purchased his own camera to watch the eagles.
Lhuillier is still walking along the path on the north side of the highway bridge 44 and stops taking pictures of the eagles in his nest. In a recent spring day, Luli watched the guardian landed in the nest as Liberty was sitting on a tall deodar cedar on the south side of the bridge.
“She has given us so much. I want to say that she has removed over 43 eggs. She has had at least 29 descendants who have been imported into the world, and that’s why the Eagle Redding Zone is really populated,” Lulier said. “She gave us everything she could give us.”
Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes tips on the story of 530-338-8834, by email on Damon.arthur@redding.com and on Twitter on @damonarthur_rsS Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Redding Bald Eagles, Liberty and Guardian, facing major changes