Ketchikan Eagle Viewing: 30 Eagle's Nests You Can See

Just out­side Ketchikan, the Alas­ka Rain­for­est Sanc­tu­ary promis­es a close-up view of old-growth for­est, salmon habi­tat, an his­toric lum­ber mill, totem carv­ing, rap­tor exhibits, and chances to see black bear and oth­er wildlife – all in under 3 hours! There’s no bet­ter intro­duc­tion to Alaska’s South­east than this show­case of ecol­o­gy, wildlife, his­to­ry and Native culture.

The Ketchikan Region­al Youth Deten­tion Cen­ter eagle nest is best viewed from two land-based loca­tions. From the north edge of the Pub­lic Health park­ing lot (just north of the Mor­mon church) look above the left hand peak of the KRY­DC. The alter­na­tive, and per­haps best view­ing, is from the park­ing lot of Cal­vary Bible Church­Size: Medi­umView­ing: Easy 

Nordic Tug (a.k.a Long­shore­man Dock) Nest is only viewed from the water. Look SE towards the shore to the tree­tops grow­ing about 100 yards (300ft) up the hill from the N. Ton­gass Hwy. Look for a clus­ter of dead Cedar spires. The nest sits among them like a mush­room on a shish-kabob! Size: Medi­um-SmalView­ing: Mod­er­ate­ly Difficult 

The Daw­son Point eagle nest is best viewed from the water just north of East Island near the NW entrance of Ward Cove. Locate a sin­gle thin snag on the right hand end of the Daw­son Point sky­line. Count 4 trees to the left. This is a large pyra­mid shaped dark green Sit­ka spruce with a flat notch near the top right side. Adults & chicks can be seen in sea­son. Size: Medi­umView­ing: Moderate

Sax­man Nest can be seen sea­ward & slight­ly south of the City Hall park­ing lot just off the South Ton­gass Hwy. Look for this nest in a decid­u­ous tree, which is rare for the area. Eagle’s usu­al­ly don’t nest in decid­u­ous trees! Size: Medi­um-LargeView­ing: Easy

Val­ley Park School eagle nest is on the hill­side to the east. Pull into the park­ing lot and park close to the fire hydrant. Look above the right hand end of the dugout on the base­ball field until you locate a large dead snag. Size: Medi­um-LargeView­ing: Easy

Mec­ca Eagles Nest is a chal­lenge to find from land or water. It is in a low-lying tree­top above a water­front brown home with brown roof. By land, turn sea­ward off the north Ton­gass Hwy, one dri­ve­way north of the Mec­ca at 11.3 mile NT. The nest can best be found dur­ing incu­ba­tion and active feed­ing times when the white head of the adult eagle will show you this nest. Size: Smal­l­View­ing: Challenging  ...more

Ward Cove Eagles Nest is in the west­ern bight of Ward Cove, which is north of Ketchikan. It is locat­ed above the cen­ter of the west­ern bight shore­line and can be best viewed from near the point. Look for a tall dead tree top about half the way up the steep hill side from the vicin­i­ty of this loca­tion. The nest is just below the dead sec­tion and on the left. Size: Medi­um-Large View­ing: Moderate  ...more

At the Eagle Cen­ter, you can get up close to 10 res­cued birds, includ­ing a gold­en eagle, great-horned owls and even a turkey vul­ture. One pair of bald eagles has mat­ed for life and occa­sion­al­ly has babies to show off. Phone: 800−252−5158, 907−228−5530. Hours May-Sep: 8am‑4:30pm (dai­ly) Win­ter: By appoint­ment Admis­sion $10/​adult, $5 kids ages 2 – 11.  ...more

Ready Mix Eagle Nest is equal­ly seen from both the water and land. By land, turn west off of N. Ton­gass just north of Ketchikan Ready Mix & Quar­ry. Park or stand between the two pic­nic bench­es and look back over the cliff above the high­way. The nest is in a huge tree­top near the crown of a sky­line promi­nent tree. You can see the nest by boat from a vari­ety of angles.Size: HugeView­ing: Easy  ...more

Fawn Moun­tain School eagle nest is best seen from the school’s access road as you turn left off the South Ton­gass Hwy and head up the hill towards the school. Pull off the road to the left on the dri­ve­way. Look about 25 feet down from the top of the large Sit­ka Spruce tree to your southeast.

The Shore­line Nest is best viewed from land by turn­ing off North Ton­gass Hwy at the north entrance to Shore­line Dri­ve. When you are around address 5306, look sea­ward to the nest, which sits about ¹⁄₃ of the way down from the top of a tree. Size: Medi­um-Smal­l­View­ing: Easy

Dan­ger Island is locat­ed west of Refuge Cove & north of Chan­nel Island in the Ton­gass Nar­rows just north of Ward Cove. The Dan­ger Island eagle nest is locat­ed under the crown of an umbrel­la-shaped tree at the point of where the trunk splits. It is best viewed from north­west of the island. Size: LargeView­ing: Easy

East Clump is an island at high tide direct­ly across Ton­gass Nar­rows from the south end of Bar Har­bor near Madi­son Lum­ber. The nest tree is on the south edge of East Clump and best viewed from the water.Size: Medi­umView­ing: Moderate

Moun­tain Point eagle nest is locat­ed near a side road just north of the Moun­tain Point boat ramp. As you are trav­el­ing south on the South Ton­gass Hwy, slow down as you pass the Mt. Pt. Mar­itime mark­er. Turn left onto the side road at the 35 MPH + curve sign. Pull off this road on the left into a quar­ry type area about ½ block from the high­way and look north-north­west to a large Sit­ka Spruce.Size: Medi­umView­ing: Medium   ...more

South Ton­gass Fire Depart­ment eagle nest can be seen from the park­ing lot by their old fire sta­tion off of South Ton­gass High­way, just south of the Mt. Pt. Boat launch. Check the largest Sit­ka Spruce in the stand of tim­ber above the elec­tri­cal sub­sta­tion and you’ll see the nest about 30 feet from the top. Size: Medi­umView­ing: Moderate 

The McClen­nan eagle nest is best viewed from the water north of Totem Bight State Park from a point in front of the Mick­el home (gray with white trim). The nest is on the right hand side of a huge old-growth tree where the longest branch is attached, well below the lopped off top. This tree ris­es above the McClen­nan home. Size: Medi­um-LargeView­ing: Medium-Easy

Long Island, owned by Tim & Kay Long, is locat­ed south of Refuge Cove State Park and west of Refuge Cove Mari­na, about 8 ½ miles north of Ketchikan. The Long Island eagle nest is best viewed from the south­west side of the island by look­ing ¹⁄₃ the way down from the top of the largest tree on side of the island that you’re fac­ing. Size: Medi­umView­ing: Moderate

The nest­ing pair have built a new nest just north of McClennan’s house on the point and near the water’s edge. It is very near the top of the tallest tree among the short imma­ture spruce that grow there. Size: Small (but it makes the EALGES look bii­i­i­ig­ger!) View­ing: EasyDon’t spend so much time on the eagles that you miss the whales .…… BEHIND YOU!

The Lama Head eagle nest can be viewed from the water. Look for a round gray boul­der on the beach near the high tide line. Now let your eyes sweep about 35 feet to the right along the beach and then strait up to the tree­tops. If you look close­ly you’ll see the shape of a Lama in the trees. Look for the Lama’s long skin­ny neck, point­ed nose to the left, peaked ears and a pack­sad­dle. What you per­ceive to be a pack­sad­dle IS the eagle’s nest.…  ...more