The perimeter of Stone Tables & Playground at White Rock Lake has become the terrain of Dallas’ most tense modern turf war. By the yellow tape bordering off a few acres surrounding one specific tree, two of Dallas’ most polarizing communities, the birders and the bikers, come to verbal blows, and the vitriol is worse on social media. In the center of the prohibited zone at the lake is the nest of Nick and Nora, Dallas’ beloved pair of bald eagles, and on the ground below the tree, squawk their three fledgling eaglets: Rocky, Stoney, and the runt of the trio, Lucky.
Every year, the city shuts down the area surrounding the nest, allowing the eaglets the space they need to learn to fly and hunt. By federal law, entering the prohibited zone carries a $250,000 fine and a year in prison, but the penalties — a massive sign, water barriers, chains, yellow tape and the chastisement of the city’s self-appointed eagle protectors — haven’t been enough to prevent bikers from completing their route through the area.
“It’s pretty tense right now, and it’s escalated a bit,” says Frank Giblin, an admin of the official Nick and Nora fan page on Facebook. The page is riddled with dozens of comments about issues with bikers. “There’s a lot more verbal sparring going on.”
Tensions reached an all-time high in late May when one of the eaglets fell from the nest, a natural part of the fledging process. From the ground, the eaglets slowly build their muscles by working their way back up the trees, branch by branch. The two other eaglets are on the ground now, getting closer and closer to soaring daily. It’s their most vulnerable time, and keeping them isolated and unspooked is a primary concern for birders and the city’s parks and recreation department, who are responsible for keeping the area on lockdown. The zone will remain shut down until the eaglets are able to fly and hunt on their own, which is projected for mid-July.
“The city reacted wonderfully. The city park and recreation department did a fantastic job of closing up the road, extending the barricades, and putting up signage continuously during the weekend,” Giblin says. “But even last week, you still saw the behavior [from the bikers]. They’re going around the barricades, and I was disappointed. It’s turned into a war of words right now.”
A simple solution
Giblin says nearly every hour, a biker cuts through the zone, but the problem is more complex than ignorant and aggressive bikers, and the solution may be simple, says one of White Rock’s bikers…