Some new tenants have taken up residence along the Deschutes River, near the eastern end of the Colorado Avenue bridge in southwest Bend. The couple have a great view from their perch 90 feet above ground.

And workers in an office complex beside the river have a great view of them.

Julie Gregory was at work when she looked out the window toward what workers there know to be an osprey nest. She saw movement.

The osprey had left to fly south weeks before, so she didn’t expect to see birds. Grabbing binoculars, she realized eagles had moved in. “They didn’t kick (the osprey) out. There was no drama about that,” said Gregory, charitable gift planner at Oregon Community Foundation. “They’re just sort of subletting.”

The bald eagles have taken nest and become the talk of the office complex, but it’s uncertain how long they’ll stay.

Throughout the Cascades, there could be as many as 70 nesting pairs of eagles, up two from 2006, according to Frank Isaacs of the Oregon Eagle Foundation, a nonprofit that monitors bald eagle and golden eagle populations in the state.

Isaacs noted that it’s not unusual to see eagles visiting Central Oregon from the north and south during the winter months.

But the nest, which rests on a platform on top of a 90-foot pole and was built for osprey, makes an unusual home for eagles given the minimal cover.

“Eagles like a little different structure, they like to be hidden in the crown of trees,” said Isaacs.

That the eagles are in the nest now does not mean they will stay. “They could be hunting, probably using it as a perch for ducks or fish” in the river below, he said.

Indeed, the ducks down below have taken notice.

“They sit up there, and the ducks get nervous and take off,” said Bill Smith, president of Smith Properties, who put the pole up in 1991 to attract osprey.

Smith said this is the third winter that eagles have been spotted in the nest, but they have never before been around as often as this year.

And even though the pole was intended as an osprey nest, Smith is happy to have the eagles.

“If it’s eagles, it’ll be an eagle nest,” said Smith.

There are plenty of theories about why the eagles moved in.

“It could be two young eagles just pairing up,” said Lynda O’Neill, who is monitoring the birds along with the Eagle Foundation and has volunteered at the High Desert Museum. “Could be they’re just fooling around and exploring. Could be looking at that nest for spring. Could be that young pair establishing a new territory.”

But for all the possibilities, O’Neill said, “that is quite a bonus to that section of the river and that part of Bend.”

But if the eagles decide to stick around, the osprey might not agree when they return in the spring.

“Eagles are pretty much year-round residents,” said Isaacs. “If eagles decide to use the nest, (the osprey) are out of luck.”

Eagles typically stick around a nest for a few years, and if they begin adding to a nest, they could be staying for a while, said Issacs.

“I think the female was moving a bunch of sticks around, like she was rearranging the furniture,” said Gregory.