The San Francisco call., 1906-10-21
By William L. Finley
With Photographs From Life by Her
man t. Bohlman

ANY years ago q pair OF Golden
Al Eagles came to live on the
~ southern rim OF Mission Ridge.
in Alameda County. The good
people OF the lower slopes said the
birds were there before they came. The
nest was first found by an egg col
lector in the early nineties, and for
several years the big birds were
robbed. Then the eagles would have
no more of this and abandoned their
serie. But each year they were seen
about their old hunting ground. The
new aerie was still somewhere about
the ridge and this was the object of our
. guest We wanted TO study and photo
graph this royal pair of birds.
Il was the morning Of March 25 when
we boarded the south-bound train at
Oakland and landed in a fertile hilly
district With our cameras strapped
TO our backs we wheeled rapidly over
the first few miles of road. but had to
Pile our bicycles in the brush about
sun-up.
The spring rains had not yet ceased
The grass-covered fields were soft and
springy under foot. A rich earthly odor
breathed gently up and the nostrils
failed not to take eager note of it The
air seemed fluent as mercury and vi
brated at every sound or motion. A
band OF red-wings held song service
Just down the hill where the lush
grasses grew. Meadow larks piped and
whistied bluejays souawked and hum
Oh 1--
flowers As we sscended out of the
cultivated district the hills were
spIashed and streaked with yellows and
blues and puppies Of the wild flowers
golden poppies, yellow mustard and
buttercups and purple lupines. Further
I'D the road ceased and we had to fol-
low the COW trails. After we reached
the highest shoulder Of the range we
found the surface rocky and broken.
rThere was scarcely any vegetation on
the ridge except a scraggly growth of
poison oak and chaparraL We stood
long and gazed at the wide stretch OF
the whole valley Far below and reach
ing inland from the lower end Of san
Francisco Bay the ribbonlike sloughs
wound in and out, reaching far back
ike the tentscles of huge octopus.
Wild Home of the Eagle.
At the very top of the range the
mountain breaks abruptly of into
the head Of the big canyon. This is
the native haunt Of the golden eagle.
A large sycamore tree is rooted in the
bed Of the little stream. Four good
-yf1 NJ
To the branch bending toward the val
lev. above the steep. rocky slope. the
eagles had carried a small cartload
Of sticks and worked them into the
forks where they branched. horizontal
70 the ground It was a platform five
feet across, not careIessly put together.
but each stick woven in TO add
strength to the whole structure, as
the stones are built into castle.
Climbing one OF the other trees the
photographer put UP tiny platform
sn the topmost branches where the
camera was fastened and aimed down
ward at the aerie twenty feet away
nor was it an easy matter TO photo
graph IN the top limbs Of that syca-
more, where wrong move might land
camera and all in the bed OF the can
yon. But for six different trips. ex-
tending over period OF two months
and a half. we took pictures from
this position and the surrounding
limbs.
Did the old eagle show fght?" is
the first question put by the usual
listener. I always see a trace OF dis
appointment sweep over his face when
he hears the answer. The moment you
speak Of climbing TO an eagles aerie
the average man gets an idea Of a
narrowing tale Of the photographer
hanging TO the edge OF a cliff or the
TOP Of a tree with the old eagles claw
ing out pound chunks al every swoop.
Few eagles possess the mad ferocity
pictured and magnifed by sensational
story tellers. When we first scrambled
over the boulders of the canyon up
toward the nest I saw the old eagle
slip quietly from her eggs and skim
out over the mountain top. When ]
\ strapped on the climbers TO ascend
"he tree had one eye open for trouble.
but each time we visited the spot the
uarents disappeared and stayed away
as long as we cared TO hold possession.
They kept a watchful eye, however,
from the blue distance overhead For
q noble bird like the eagle this aband-
oning Of the nest and young seemed
eowardiy at first. But perhaps the