Montana Best Times: Big Sky Birding Column

The Rise and Fall of a Tree Called "Hercules" (January 2008)

Most people are vaguely familiar with the hero of Greek mythology named Hercules, who was reputed for his strength and power. But few realize there once was a tree by the same name in Yellowstone National Park that was near and dear to me, which I watched for over a quarter century. This is the story of one of Yellowstone’s most dominant and spectacular wildlife trees, and the subsequent rise and fall of a tree called "Hercules." If we could go back in time and dream and wonder about a different era, we would find that what today is Yellowstone was covered primarily in ice, thousands of feet thick, such as occurred during the Pleistocene. During the Post-Pleistocene era, the area warmed up, making it more habitable, thus allowing prehistoric native cultures, vegetation and wildlife to thrive.

Also during this period, there emerged a unique Douglas fir seedling that would eventually be the grandparent of many Douglas fir trees to come. How long ago this seedling emerged is pure speculation, but recent tree core sampling of other trees that turned out this rare and similar size dates back 450 to 500 years ago. This means this tree started off as a seedling somewhere around the years 1500-1550.

During that time frame, there was a drying-out period that allowed trees like Douglas fir and shrubs like sagebrush to thrive in what is today Yellowstone. But a sudden change in climate, known as the Little Ice Age, occurred between 1650 and 1890, making it much wetter and colder than we find today. According to Mary Meagher in her book "Yellowstone and the Biology of Time," this period also marked a series of severe winters characterized by extreme cold temperatures and deep snows. The greatest precipitation period in Yellowstone in recent years occurred from 1877 to 1890. So, trees like "Hercules" have stood alongside some amazing natural and human events over the course of time.

Once-hidden Tree Found
Now let’s fast forward to the early 1870s and up to the present. Let’s bypass the early expeditions, the early explorers and visitors and the creation of Yellowstone in 1872 to an era of high human visitation and milder weather like we find today. So where in Yellowstone is this tree called "Hercules" located? "Hercules" is found six miles east of West Yellowstone in Yellowstone National Park on the south side of the Madison River. It is a famous Bald Eagle nest tree that had been hidden in the forest over the years, because the original wagon road bypassed this current site by about a half mile. Then in the early 1960s, the National Park Service realigned the west entrance road, forcing the new road to pass within 150 feet of the nest. This new road realignment and novel harassment from visitors created trouble for the eagles, and the last single eaglet of that period was produced from that nest in 1961. Even though the nest tree remained relatively hidden in the tall trees, it failed for the next two years and remained unoccupied for another two decades as well. A Bald Eagle pair stayed in the area intermittently, but failed to produce young for two decades until they were successful in fledging two eaglets beginning in 1981, and failed again in 1982 and 1983. But what made matters worse was a major cataclysmic event in the form of the 1988 wildfires, which burned all the surrounding trees but left a lone, large, standing monolith of a tree that is the basis of this story.

Bird Fight Over "Hercules"
For years, "Hercules" was first and foremost a Bald Eagle nest tree. And when the eagles failed for a lengthy period of time primarily due to too many people, the nest was gradually taken over by a pair of Canada Geese. And over the years, not only myself but many park visitors observed the goose or female nesting in a Bald Eagle nest. But the greatest sight was watching the newly hatched Canada Goose goslings fall 65 feet to the ground, leaving them unscathed, as the adults coached them out of the skyscraper tree to the edge of the Madison River.

The history of this tree represents a microcosm of change that much of Yellowstone has experienced. Then, a major coup occurred in 2003, when a pair or brace of Ospreys usurped the nesting Canada Geese and took over “Hercules,” which is located close to the road. That didn’t last long, Bald Eagles ran the Ospreys out and returned to their former homesite in the magnificent nest tree. From this point on, it became once again a Bald Eagle nest tree. But it required closing the area around the monolithic tree to the public, coupled with signing and law enforcement. If it wasn’t for the resource rangers, patrol rangers and volunteers as well as an area closure, the eagles would not have had the opportunity to nest so close to the road and tolerate the human activity. Once the closure was in place, the eagles began nesting again. In 2004, they fledged one eaglet, and in 2005 two eaglets.

But the celebration faded in the spring of 2006, when the nest material, weighing approximately one ton, and measuring 7 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep, toppled from the tree due to wind, killing two eaglets in the nest. However, the event quickly turned around into a seed of benefit when, in two weeks, the eagles rebuilt the nest. In 2007, two eaglets fledged once again from the famed tree.

A Giant Goes Down
But as in life, all good things must pass. I officially retired from Yellowstone National Park this fall, and one month before that date, I was notified by patrol rangers that the huge, bulky eagle nest in the tree called "Hercules" fell to the ground because of the wind. The eagles kept rebuilding the nest, but the final blow occurred Nov. 19 one week before I retired, when a fierce windstorm with gusts in excess of 60 mph made the final blow on "Hercules" and knocked the tree to the ground. A close ranger friend of mine contacted me soon afterward and mentioned how ironic it was for the nest tree to blow down around the time I was leaving the National Park Service.

"Hercules" wasn’t any ordinary Yellowstone tree. This was an ancient Douglas fir dating back nearly a half millennium that was also the foundation tree for a Bald Eagle nest for over four decades. It was a tree of time, a tree that stood witness to a large portion of Yellowstone history. And if it could talk, it would have had stories to tell: of Native Americans passing by; of the early explorers in wagons; of severe wildfires and winters; of drought, floods, and warming periods; of a new road built close to the nest; of competition with Ospreys and Canada Geese for a nest site; of European Starlings, Mountain Bluebirds, Violet-green Swallows, Hairy Woodpeckers, Three-toed Woodpeckers nesting beneath the eagles; of marauding ravens stealing food from the nest; of hundreds of trout and waterfowl being delivered to the young eaglets by the adults; of snowshoe hares and muskrats being carried to the nest as well; of eagles stealing fish from Ospreys; of the eagles’ tolerance to people; of the mighty windstorms that made the tree shake; and of millions of park visitors who were privileged to view nesting Bald Eagles up close and personal.

Wind and or wildfires are what naturally destroys large Bald Eagle nesting trees. But this was no ordinary nesting tree. This was a giant among the giants, and I feel fortunate, and in a way unfortunate, to have witnessed the rise and fall of a tree called "Hercules."

More short stories from "Lucky Feathers — Adventures and Experiences of a Yellowstone Ornithologist," will be featured in forthcoming issues of Montana Best Times. In the meantime, enjoy Montana birds! And the Best of Big Sky Birding to you!