Eagles’ nest delays construction on 44th Avenue East extension

Construction started on Manatee County’s 44th Avenue East extension project in 2013 and it’s expected to be completed by the end of the year. 

But in the road’s final stretch, a pair of bonded bald eagles have set the project back by a month and an additional $864,336.58. 

A utility line had to be rerouted and redesigned around the eagles' former nest west of I-75 and just off Lena Road, that now has been taken over by owls. While an owls' nest would not have led to redesigned utility lines, the fact that it recently had been a protected eagles nest, and since bald eagles often return to such a nest, made the redesign necessary.

Manatee County Engineer Scott May said removing the nest could have held the project up for a year because of permitting.

The latest accommodation on the 44th Avenue East's extension for an eagle’s nest was not the county’s first. 

From the initial designs and permits for the extension, staff members knew the construction would impact two bald eagles nests west of I-75. They worked around the nests, including distance requirements and noise abatement.

The permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to work around eagles nests during the project also required Manatee County to mitigate the impacts with a conservation easement over approximately 24 acres of suitable bald eagle habitat adjacent to Duette Preserve.

But along with eagles’ nests, there are certain “control points” that had to be accommodated in the planning of a major connector road, such as 44th Avenue. For example, where the extension crosses over Interstate 75, the road had to line up at a point where it could connect to what was already built by Lakewood Ranch to the east. 

“It was a little more complicated than most (projects),” May said. “When you put those control points in, it really limits what you can do to connect your dots.”

The process and permits are fluent, as eagles have minds of their own and “an affinity for their trees,” as Sherri Swanson put it. 

Swanson is Manatee County’s Ecological Services division manager. Her job is to make sure construction does not illegally impact any wildlife. 

In 2016, in the midst of early construction, a nest popped up near Interstate 75 and in the middle of the roadway’s path. 

In that case, the tree had to be removed, but it was done so outside of nesting season, which runs from Oct. 1 through May 15. 

Swanson said a new nest was built in the same territory. 

Two other former nests in the area were taken over by great horned owls. According to the National Audubon Society, great horned owls typically use nests built by other large birds, including eagles, hawks, crows and herons. Even so, those nests are protected as the eagles could return.

Two of the nests are to the west of I-75. The rebuilt nest is to the east of I-75 just off Lena Road.

Photo by Jay Heater

Manatee County's staff members have struggled to make the extension project work.

Staff members designed a curve to the north to avoid one of the eagles' nesting trees that is to the east of I-75. They rerouted utilities and kept to a strict noise abatement protocol. 

The eagles from that nest have faced other forms of stress as they battled Hurricane Helene in September and Hurricane Milton in October. 

Their nest was destroyed, but the pair returned in January to rebuild. After their first egg laying attempt failed, great horned owls pirated the newly rebuilt nest.