The eagles are leaving Lake Coeur d'Alene

Come late November and December, David Taylor likes to drive to Higgens Point and watch bald eagles. Usually, in the mile-and-a-half downhill stretch on Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive, he’ll see their white heads dotting tree branches. 

Not this year. 

Taylor has gone to Higgens Point early mornings and late afternoon, usually good times for eagle activity.  

Again, not this year. 

“They haven’t been there,” he said Thursday. 

The annual migration of bald eagles to Lake Coeur d’Alene to feed on spawning kokanee has peaked, said Bureau of Land Management’s Carrie Hugo on Friday, and it was nowhere close to last year’s numbers. 

Hugo counted 191 eagles Thursday, a sharp decline from 284 the previous week, and far from the record of 409 eagles she counted Dec. 20, 2023.

“I had a hunch it was going down,” Hugo said, “so I wasn’t too surprised.”

She said spawning kokanee are dwindling, and as kokanee numbers go down, the eagles move on and head south. Lower water levels this year have left lines of dead kokanee on shorelines. 

For now, mature and juvenile bald eagles are still out there, Hugo said, but are sticking around Beauty Bay. They seem to be avoiding their traditional hunting grounds at Higgens Point and Mineral Ridge.

Hugo said there's more competition for fewer fish lately. When an eagle swoops down to grab a kokanee, more eagles soar in to try and make it drop the kokanee. 

“It’s fun to watch,” she said. 

Hugo expects the eagle population around Lake Coeur d’Alene to continue to decline from this point. Almost all will be gone by mid-January. 

Spirit Lake, Hayden Lake and Lake Pend Oreille also have kokanee that attract eagles.

“It's definitely already peaked,” Hugo said.  

Mike Thomas, regional fisheries biologist with Idaho Fish and Game, said IDFG introduced kokanee into Lake Coeur d’Alene in 1937 and they have become a driver in the food chain. 

“Almost everything in Lake Coeur d’Alene feeds on kokanee,” Thomas said. 

He said the juvenile kokanee of 2019-20 grew into last year's adult kokanee population in Lake Coeur d’Alene of around 10 million, which he called "a true banner year."

“Not all of those spawned, but it was a huge uptick,” he said. 

An average year is about a million adult kokanee in Lake Coeur d’Alene. This year's figure is projected to be a little higher.

Thomas said kokanee are bigger this year, about 11 inches, versus 10 inches last year.  

“Even that 1-inch increase is a good indication there are fewer kokanee,” Thomas said. “If you see small kokanee, there’s going to be a lot.” 

George Sayler, a member of the Coeur d’Alene Audubon Society, also said the eagles have been more elusive this year.

“It’s a little bit of a puzzle. I suppose maybe the crowd got so big at Higgens they didn’t like coming over there so much,” he said. “I think they’re staying farther away."

Sayler said weather conditions and the spawning kokanee influence the arrival of bald eagles to North Idaho and their departure.

“There’s a lot of variables,” he said. 

The Coeur d’Alene Audubon Society has an eagle-watching station scheduled today, Dec. 28 and Jan. 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Higgens Point.