The Great Nest of Brownhelm

The Great Nest of Brownhelm. . The "Great Eyrie" or "Great Nest" is the largest ever bird-built tree nest recorded in Ohio. This impressive nest was the fourth in a series of bald eagle nests built over a span of 80-90 years in the same general area along Lake Road, halfway between Vermilion and Lorain in Brownhelm Township. Beginning in 1891 and continuing for 35 years, mating bald eagles added sticks to The Great Nest's inverted cone-shaped structure. Over time, the nest grew to an astounding size of 12 feet high and 8.5 feet wide with an estimated weight of two tons!, The Great Nest and the bald eagles of the area were the focus of a pioneering study to investigate the behavior of this particular and fascinating raptor species. In the early 1920s, Dr. Francis H. Herrick, professor of biology at Western Reserve University, spent three springs and summers recording and photographing the nesting behavior of the eagles in and around The Great Nest. He devised many unique techniques to study this bird, such as using photography as a research tool. In the winter of 1922, he erected a ten-foot square tent-like structure on a platform perched 95 feet from the ground in an elm tree adjacent to The Great Nest. This enabled him to closely observe the eagles from his khaki-colored tent without disturbing them. His research was the first comprehensive study of the American bald eagle, and his work was published in many forms. In 1929, Dr. Herrick had his work published in the National Geographic Magazine. This groundbreaking research gave readers a glimpse into the bald eagle's life history., The nest stood exactly 81 feet from the ground in the leaning top of a Shellbark Hickory tree until the evening of March 10th, 1925, when high winds and heavy rains sent the nest crashing to the ground. The pair of eagles occupying the nest at the time of its destruction built a new one thirteen days later in an oak tree in another part of the same grove and welcomed an eaglet that spring., This wasn't the end of The Great Nest's story. In 2007, Lorain County Metro Parks commissioned a ground-level replica of The Great Nest in the Raptor Center courtyard at the Carlisle Visitor Center. After this one was dismantled, a new reproduction was built here in 2020. This is a fitting location for the replica since it is in close proximity to the original nest. While enjoying The Great Nest, keep an eye on the sky for one of our area's bald eagles soaring by!