Eagle Cam Web Log 2007

Eagle Cam Video

In this web log entry, we're offering three video clips that were captured last Saturday from the Eagle Cam monitor at the Blackwater Refuge Visitor Center. If you ever pay a visit to the Refuge, be sure to drop by our Visitor Center where you can watch the Osprey Cam and Eagle Cam video live on our TV monitors.

Before we talk about the video clips, it might be a good idea to talk a little about the incubation process, which is what we're seeing in the video. Incubation is the process of applying heat to the egg so the embryo inside will develop and hatch. Our eggs are about a week old, and already the eaglets are growing body parts inside their shells. This Embryonic Development Chart shows how a chicken egg develops during the chick's 21-day incubation period. The chicken's incubation period is two weeks shorter than the eaglet's, but all the general body parts are there.

Both our eagle parents have a brood patch -- a featherless area on their breasts that is infused with blood vessels and sensitive to temperature -- and both adults will incubate, although the female will do it the majority of the time.

As far as the parents' relationship, the female is the dominant bird by virtue of her larger size -- she's about one-third larger than the male (same as ospreys). Biologists speculate that the reason the females are larger is because they spend more time protecting the eggs and chicks when they're most vulnerable, while the males spend more time hunting for food and chasing off intruders, and thus the males are required to be quick and agile.

Video Clips

Our three video clips are for the Windows Media Player. Right-click on the images below and choose "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" to download the movies to your hard drive. Note that there is no audio with the clips as we do not have a microphone mounted on the tree.

In our first video clip we see a funny little exchange between our two devoted parents. The female eagle flies in with a piece of the always-popular pine spray and proceeds to place it on the male's back, while he's lying in the nest incubating the eggs. (Note: She did this on Friday, as well).

We can't be sure if mom was trying to tell dad that he needs freshening up or if she was dropping a subtle hint that she wanted to take over incubation, but the male takes the pine branch off his back only to have the female put it right back on him. This time the male indulges the female and leaves the branch alone but doesn't get up from his comfortable spot on the eggs, so the female flies off to look for more pine sprays. After the female is out of sight, the male removes the pine for good.

In the second clip we get a good view of how the eagle parent incubates the eggs. The male gets up and begins to roll the eggs around a bit and also aerates the grass that is beneath the eggs. Next the male lies down over the eggs, hooks his sharp beak into the nest to anchor himself, and then rocks back and forth over the eggs until they're nice and tight against his brood patch. After the eggs are in position, he pulls in the surrounding grasses so they are closer to his body.

If you watch the Eagle Cam monitor at our Visitor Center for a long time, you see that the parents spend a lot of time fussing with the sticks and grasses around them until they're finally satisfied with the arrangement.

In the final clip we see a nice example of an incubation switch. The female comes in with another pine spray, and this time looks like she wants to put it on the male's head, so he gets up. After the male flies away to stretch his wings and maybe eat, the female settles in over the eggs, showing the same hooking/rocking behavior that we saw in the male. Finally she pulls the grasses closer to her body.

In order to illustrate how the parents differ in size, here are two screen grabs from the clips that show how the female is noticeably bigger and longer.

In the next few web log entries we'll talk more about the parents' relationship and more about the eggs -- such as the possible gender of the chicks.

Also, for those just joining us, be sure to download our Eagle Watchers' Guide (2.5 MB PDF file) to see a recap of our first Eagle Cam season and to learn interesting facts about eagles and their young.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Second Egg

Congrats to our parents on the arrival of their second egg! At this point, the big question is whether we'll get a third egg. If a third egg comes, it will likely arrive between Sunday and Monday -- with the best bet being on Monday. In 2005, when we had three eggs on the Eagle Cam, the second egg came on Friday, and the third came on Monday. If we don't have a third egg by Tuesday, it means we probably won't get one. Regarding hatch dates for our two eggs, we're now looking at February 28 and March 2.

Nest Action

I was at the Refuge on Saturday taping some video of the eagles on the Eagle Cam monitor, and I was able to capture several interesting scenes on the nest. I'll try to put together several video clips for my next web log post, and then everyone can see the eagle parents in action.

I wanted to thank everyone who sent in photos of the eggs arriving. We didn't have space to include all the shots, but we still appreciate receiving them. Each Gallery is a long-term record of the nesting season, and it is a valuable resource both for the Refuge staff and for all our cam watchers.

In the recent Gallery update, we had several interesting shots that I wanted to point out. In this shot, the parent has its rear in the air and looks as if it's slicing. "Slicing" is the falconer term for forcefully ejecting the feces. Eagles have strong anal muscles, and can shoot or slice their feces a long way. Often the parents will actually leave the nest to go, but the nest-bound eaglets will slice over the edge in order to keep the nest tidy (osprey chicks do it, too).

In this pair of photos we can see how the nest cup has now been built up -- with little walls -- to create a warm pocket to protect the eggs. And in this photo we can see one parent with a talon on the egg -- possibly in the act of turning the egg. Sometimes the parents will curl their talons into a ball when they turn the egg in order to prevent the egg from being punctured. Here is a photo from our 2005 Eagle Cam season that shows a great example of the rolled-talon technique. Note that this is also how the male would roll his talons when he mounts the female during copulation, so as not to hurt her.

Also in the Gallery were photos showing that the eagle parents have brought in more white pine sprays to the nest -- a behavior that I've mentioned in previous postings of this web log. Something I wanted to share is that one of our cam watchers wrote in recently to say that she saw a TV documentary about African eagles that confirmed the theory we had read that the eagle parents bring white pine sprays to the nest because the pine discourages insects/parasites from attacking the hatchlings. It makes you wonder what eagle in the history of the species made this discovery, and then managed to pass it along to so many other eagles. Possibly the eaglets saw how the parents kept the nest, and then imitated their actions, and that was how it was passed from generation to generation. Amazing.

Blackwater Refuge Satellite Photo

Several cam watchers have asked about the distance between the Osprey Cam and the Eagle Cam. To provide everyone with a point of reference regarding the two cams, I'm posting a satellite photo from Google Earth that shows a section of Blackwater Refuge from the air with the relevant areas labeled (see below). If you look for the Osprey Cam in the photo, you can see how close it is to the river and to the Wildlife Drive (visitors can walk, bike or drive on this road). The little road you see leading to the platform is our staff-only access road, which we use to reach the platform for equipment maintenance. Currently we do not advertise the exact location of the Eagle Cam because we don't want visitors to seek it out (the eagles are more sensitive about having people near their young), but the label in the photo gives you an idea of the general area. It's less than two miles between the cams, and based on the photos we've seen in both galleries, it's very likely that the eagle parents are occasionally using the osprey platform for perching since it's near the river and not far from their home nest.

Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Finally I wanted to alert everyone to a fantastic bald eagle article that is appearing in the February 2007 issue of Chesapeake Bay Magazine. Our good friend Melanie Lynch wrote the article, which discusses Chesapeake Bay bald eagles with a special emphasis on the eagles at Blackwater Refuge. In her entertaining piece, Melanie shares some terrific insights into our local eagle population, and also shares some wonderful details of the trip she made to Blackwater Refuge with USFWS biologist Craig Koppie, when he came to Blackwater Refuge to collect eaglets for the Vermont Bald Eagle Restoration Initiative.

Melanie has been kind enough to post the article online so everyone can read it. You can access the article here. Much thanks to Melanie for her generosity in getting this online for us.

The photos posted with the hard copy of the article were taken by Melanie and three other photographers whose work I've used in my web logs. Below are links to the galleries of these three photographers, so you can check out their amazing eagle and osprey photographs, many of which were taken at Blackwater or other Maryland locations. And if you live in the Maryland area, I strongly suggest you look for the magazine at your local grocery store or bookstore -- the full-size photos in the hard copy of the magazine are truly beautiful.

Article photographers:
Woody Dawson
Bob Quinn
Linda Kanner

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

First Egg

Congratulations to our proud parents! They now have one egg in the nest -- an egg that appears to have been laid early on Wednesday morning. We originally published this photo as the first shot where the egg was visible, but I just saw this photo in our gallery submissions, and there might be an egg in this one as well. Today's egg was laid about the same time as the first egg laid in the 2005 Eagle Cam season -- that egg appeared on January 25.

As a special treat, one of our cam watchers -- Cheryl Whitney -- sent in this fun QuickTime movie showing some of today's highlights on the nest. Right-click on the image below and choose "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" to download the 1.4 MB QuickTime movie. Much thanks to Cheryl!

The Egg

The female eagle was on the nest most of yesterday and all of last night. She was sitting low and looking under herself quite frequently, but we never saw an egg until this morning. In the book titled The Bald Eagle, eagle biologist Mark Stalmaster states that "Interestingly, an eagle may assume the incubation posture even when no eggs are present. This pseudoincubation is quite common, especially just prior to egg laying." So what we were seeing yesterday afternoon and last night might have been pseudoincubation, since normally it's not that hard to see the egg once it has arrived.

Questions

In this web log entry, I wanted to touch on some of the many egg questions that folks sent in today. First, the egg is about the size of a goose's egg and is a dull white. Bald eagle eggs are considered to be small for such a large raptor, but eaglets are reported to be the fastest growing birds in North America, so they will reach their large size quickly.

The parents will incubate the egg for approximately 32-36 days, although all of our previous eggs on the Eagle Cam have hatched on the 35th or 36th day. This would put the hatch date at around February 28. If the egg is late to hatch, then there is a chance it was infertile. An average clutch is two eggs, but sometimes there will be three (in our first year with the Eagle Cam in 2005, we had three eggs and all the chicks fledged successfully). Eggs will be laid about two to three days apart.

Both parents have a brood patch, which is a featherless area on their lower breast where the egg comes in contact with their warm blood vessels, and both parents share the duties of incubation, although the female will do it the most. The parents will turn the egg about once an hour to keep the embryo inside from sticking to the inner shell and to ensure that the entire egg is warmed evenly.

Some folks were worried about the long periods when the parents were off the egg. We've seen this behavior in the past with both our eagles and ospreys when it comes to the first egg, and we don't think it is something to be concerned about. The parents are not leaving the egg alone. In fact it is highly likely that they are watching it from nearby, because they know that to leave it alone would make it vulnerable to crows, squirrels, and other predators.

From what we've seen on our past cams, the incubation period is more constant once the second egg is laid. But it's important to remember that the eagles are acting on instinct and experience when it comes to incubation and everything else they do. They have their own judgment as to proper incubation depending on the air temperature, the sun's warmth, the feel of the egg against their breast, etc., so we have to trust their judgment when it comes to proper care of the egg. This doesn't mean that parents never make mistakes -- sometimes they do -- but when it comes to raising eaglets, they know more than we do.

A couple cam watchers asked about seeing the egg photos in the Gallery -- I will update the Gallery in the next few days, as soon as I have time to go through the photos and organize them. So once I update the Gallery, everyone will be able to see the egg photos that were recently captured.

Also, sometime over the next couple weeks, I plan to hook up our VCR to the Eagle Cam monitor at the Visitor Center and record some incubation video. If I'm successful at capturing some nest action, I'll post several video clips on the website so everyone can see the eagles going through the incubation duties.

And this brings us to a common question we've received over the last week: Why doesn't the cam have streaming video? The Eagle Cam is run by the Friends of Blackwater, which is a nonprofit citizen support group that helps the refuge serve the public. Unfortunately, streaming video is very expensive and outside our current budget. We don't want to take on corporate sponsors and consequently load our cam pages with ads and flashing banners -- we prefer to focus on the birds. Also, if we did make the splurge to streaming video, we would likely have to limit how many people could watch and for how long, and that's something we don't want to do. We would rather offer our cams to anyone who wants to watch, for as long as that person wants to watch. So for now, we will be sticking with the still images. And hopefully the videos I post at different times during the season will give everyone a feel for what the eagles look like in action.

Thanks to all those who sent in photos today, and especially those brave folks who stayed up late last night and got up very early this morning to look for an egg. I apologize to those who didn't know that the computer automatically shuts down the image updating from 11pm until 3am. We do this to save on bandwidth, and normally this is not a problem since most action occurs during the day. But I understand some folks thought the image updating had frozen up. If you have questions about our setup, be sure to read our Eagle Cam Q&A. The link to this page was on our Eagle page, but now I've put it on our cam page too, where I should have had it from the start. :-)

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Mid-winter Eagle Survey

We continue to be optimistic about our eagle pair possibly laying one to three eggs within the next two to three weeks. The latest promising signs have included the female lying in the nest for long periods during the day. But our best indication that an egg is coming will be seeing the female spending the night on the nest. In the past two seasons, when the female spent her first full night on the nest, we had an egg the next morning, so the female's behavior will be our best indicator that an egg might be coming.

After the female lays the first egg (assuming she does), she will possibly lay one or two more eggs, and those will come about two to three days apart. The first chick will have the advantage, as it will hatch first (after about 35 days of incubation) and be bigger than its siblings. Often there is sibling rivalry in bald eagle nests, and if food is in short supply, the rivalry can be deadly. In the past two Eagle Cam seasons -- when we had three eaglets in 2005 and two eaglets in 2006 -- we did see sibling rivalry, but we never saw any acts that threatened the life of a chick, and all five chicks went on to fledge successfully. The most likely reasons for the success of all our cam eaglets were the experience of the parents and the bountiful food supply at the Refuge.

Eagle Survey

We recently received the results of our 2007 Mid-winter Eagle Survey. Mid-winter eagle surveys are held annually in many areas of the country and are used to gage the health of local eagle populations. Below are the results:

Non-Roost Count AM
Bald Eagles
Immature: 36
Mature: 61

Golden Eagles:
Mature: 1
Immature: 1

Unknown: 17
Total: 116

Top spot was Wildlife Drive again with 19 eagles.
Golden eagles were sighted at Little Blackwater River Bridge and Kuehnle North

Roost Count PM
Bald Eagles
Immature: 25
Mature: 51

Golden Eagles: 0

Unknown: 16
Total: 92

Top spot was Rte 335 Bridge again, with 23 eagles.

Both Non-roost count and Roost count numbers were slightly lower this year, and that is likely due to the mild winter we experienced at the end of 2006.

If the winter is mild, the eagles might not migrate or might have a wider range of locales where they can find food. Up until the recent cold snap, the mild winter in the U.S. had been affecting eagle migration in different areas around the country, with the midwest reporting that eagles had spread out over a larger area and were not concentrating as much around dams and other open-water magnets like they normally do at this time of year. However, now that the winter is finally turning colder, some of these eagles may need to relocate.

I also wanted to mention the golden eagles that were sighted during our survey. Golden eagles are hard to find in the eastern section of the U.S., so spotting one is a very big deal for a birder, and spotting an immature golden eagle is especially exciting. The beautiful golden eagle is one of the largest birds of prey in North America -- only trailing the bald eagle and the California condor in size.

You can read more about golden eagles at All About Birds and at ENature.

White Pine Update

One of our cam watchers sent me a link to a bald eagle page made by the Stratford Landing Elementary School that mentioned a possible explanation as to why eagles like to put white pine sprays on the top of their nests. According to the site: "Scientists think the reason eagles put sprigs of trees in their nests, is because the odor helps keep away parasites, such as blow flies. Eastern White Pine sprigs seem to be the eagles' top choice. Parasites could weaken, or even kill, a young eagle." We're not sure what the source of that information is, but it's an interesting idea.

Washington Post

Finally, I wanted to mention that the Washington Post has just published a very nice article about eagle watching at Blackwater Refuge. You can see the article here (note that you might have to register to view it). The article describes Blackwater Refuge as one of the best places to watch eagles on the East Coast, and that is something everyone at the Refuge is proud of -- especially since we can appreciate the excitement a person experiences when they see their first bald eagle in person.

In the popular John Denver song titled The Eagle and the Hawk there is a stanza that I like because it captures the magic of watching an eagle:

   I am the eagle, I live in high country
   In rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky
   I am the hawk and there's blood on my feathers
   But time is still turning they soon will be dry
   And all those who see me and all who believe in me
   Share in the freedom I feel when I fly

May we always have eagles to inspire and excite us.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Eagle Mating

In the past week, we've been fortunate to witness several mating sessions by the eagle couple while they were perching on the osprey platform -- the latest on Saturday morning.

This is the first time we've seen this behavior on the Osprey Cam, and these shots also beat out any that we've had of mating behavior on the eagle nest, so we're very excited that our cam watchers were able to capture these photos.

We've had some cam watchers write in with questions about the mating behavior, so I wanted to write a web log entry that discusses this topic.

For a long time it was believed that eagles mated in the air, while they were cartwheeling or sky dancing. But the aerial displays are really a prelude to mating. Once the eagles are ready to mate, they will then take to a tree branch or to their nest and then mate there, using the nest or branch for support.

During the mating session, the male curls his talons up so as not to hurt the female and mounts her back. And the female moves her tail to the side so copulation can occur.

In the book "The Bald Eagle," eagle biologist Mark Stalmaster says, "Copulation takes place in as little as five to fifteen seconds, but can last one to two minutes, and may occur several times a day. Most copulations occur from six days before to three days following the laying of the first egg. Sex is more common in the early morning hours. The sex act, however, has been observed after construction of the nest, and might even happen outside the breeding season."

Stalmaster also relates that "After union, the pair may perch together again, preen their feathers, and they may fly to the nest to arrange nest materials." In our recent mating sequence, we can see the eagles perching and preening after their mating session.

Several cam watchers have asked why the eagles are not mating on the Eagle Cam nest. We have seen at least one photo where it appeared the male was on top of the female while in the nest, but it's important to remember that the eagles seem to look at the osprey platform as a favorite "perching tree," and so they are comfortable mating there as well. The eagle pair have never shown any interest in nesting on the platform for various reasons, such as it is too open to the surrounding environment, it is too close to people, and it is not high enough or deep enough. Some bald eagles have been known to nest in artificial osprey platforms, but it's pretty rare, especially if there are natural nesting trees available in the general vicinity.

White Pine

Before I close this entry, I wanted to mention the white pine sprays that have recently appeared in the Eagle Cam nest. One cam watcher wrote in to ask about their purpose. Mark Stalmaster reports that "Interestingly, bald eagles will bring fresh leafy sprays to the nest, not for use as part of the structure or lining of the nest, but as a sort of decoration on top...In Minnesota, nests almost always contained a sprig of white pine even though red pine was the more common tree species in the area. Why eagles chose white pine is not known." Stalmaster goes on to discuss other odd items that eagles have brought to their nests and speculates that "they serve as an advertisement that the nest and territory are occupied and tell interloping eagles to stay away. The fact that a piece of green and fresh vegetation is kept at the nest indicates recent activity there." So the fresh sprays might be a way of saying "This nest is taken."

We want to thank everyone for their questions and photos. We're feeling very hopeful that our eagle pair will soon produce eggs within the next couple weeks, and we hope to have another exciting opportunity to watch little eaglets come into the world.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

The Eagles' Eyrie

We have several visual offerings this week. If you didn't see the link on the Osprey Cam page, we have posted a beautiful Blackwater fall migration video from Georgena Terry, who is the founder of Terry Precision Cycling. Georgena is a generous supporter of Blackwater Refuge, and we thank her for sharing her video and talents with us. To view the 7MB video, right-click on the link and choose "Save Target As" to download:

Also, local photographer Bob Quinn has posted some great new photos of Blackwater's adult and immature bald eagles (newest photos are at the bottom of the page). Much thanks to Bob for sharing these wonderful shots with us.

Finally, an immature bald eagle made a brief showing at the Osprey Cam nest on Tuesday.

The Eagles' Eyrie

In previous entries of our Eagle Cam Web Logs, I've often referred to the eagles' nest as just that -- a "nest." But many writers and biologists also refer to the eagles' nest as an "eyrie." The word "eyrie" refers to any lofty nest of a bird of prey, and it is frequently used when discussing the home of the eagle -- perhaps because it sounds more majestic than simply saying "nest."

Eagles have a very strong bond to their nest or eyrie. In fact, some biologists have speculated that the ties to the home eyrie are even stronger than the ties to a particular life mate.

If an eagle loses a partner, they will often quickly find another, and take them back to the old nest. In addition, eagles that migrate will separate at migration time, but when they return, will come back to the home nest as if it is a beacon -- even if the other partner is not coming back due to death or injury.

And when the nest is blown down or the tree holding the nest crashes to the ground, the eagles will often rebuild in the same area, frequently using materials from their fallen home. Some biologists even speculate that the act of building the nest together is even more crucial to the couple's bonding than cartwheeling or sky dancing together.

So the importance of the eyrie cannot be overstated, because for the eagles their nest is a migration destination, a perching platform, a bedroom, a dining room, and also a crib and exercise room for the little eaglets. In all ways, it is truly a home.

Eagle Cam Nest

At our Eagle Cam tree, the couple has built their home in a lofty, living loblolly pine tree, which is the species most favored by nesting bald eagles around the middle and lower Chesapeake Bay. The nest is about 80 feet from the ground and appears to be an average-sized structure. We don't know how old the nest is, but it was there when the camera was first put in the tree several years ago.

When looking at an eagles' nest from the ground, some observers might think that the nest is hollow inside, but in fact the nest is solid and filled with sticks, food remains, and loamlike earth. The nest grows each year as the eagles add more sticks, in addition to adding sod, dead grasses, pine sprigs, moss, cattails, and corn stalks. As for our nest, we can make an estimate as to how wide the top platform is by looking at the female lying in the nest. Since the length of an average bald eagle female is about 36 inches, we can guess that the cam nest platform is maybe around four feet wide, if you include the outlying sticks.

Eagles will often build their nests in a fork or crotch near the top of the tree, with a few branches hanging over the nest (this is unlike the ospreys, which almost always build a nest out in the open). As for the shape, the tree's supporting branches will determine the structure's form, and biologists have categorized the shape of eagles' nests into the following styles: inverted cone, disk, bowl or cylinder shaped.

Historic Eagles' Nests

A well-built eagles' nest in a healthy tree can survive a very long time -- long enough that it might outlive the original owners and be used by more than one generation of birds. When talking about long-lived eagles' nests, there are two historic structures that come to mind. The first is a bald eagles' nest that was seen by Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis-and-Clark fame) while on the first U.S. overland expedition to the Pacific Coast (1804-1806). The Hidatsas Indians had told Lewis and Clark of an eagles' nest on the Upper Missouri River in Montana -- crucial information that helped the explorers confirm their location in the uncharted country. Lewis wrote down a description of the nest:

"below this fall at a little distance a beautifull little Island well timbered is situated about the middle of the river. in this Island on a Cottonwood tree an Eagle has placed her nest; a more inaccessable spot I beleive she could not have found; for neither man nor beast dare pass those gulphs which seperate her little domain from the shores."

An eagle and nest were seen at the same tiny island in 1830, 1860 and again in 1872, suggesting that the original nest had possibly survived for numerous decades. You can see the little island here.

Another famous bald eagle home was the massive, record-setting nest in Vermilion, Ohio, near Lake Erie -- a nest that was often referred to as simply "The Great Eyrie" (click thumbnail photo). Biologist Francis H. Herrick was the first person to study the amazing structure, which was built in 1890 and was twelve feet high, eight feet wide, and weighed almost two tons! In fact, the nest was so tall, it appeared to have multiple floors. The nest was in use until 1925 when it fell down during a storm, which scattered the newly laid eggs. Ten days later, the eagle parents started building a new eyrie only 431 feet away from where the old one had stood for so many years.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Welcome to a New Season

From what we've seen on the Eagle Cam during the month of December, it appears that the eagle pair are definitely gearing up for another breeding season. We've seen photos of the eagles repairing the nest, bringing in sticks and grass, bringing back fish and duck meals, and possibly mating in the tree. At this stage things look promising, so I thought it would be a good time to start up the 2007 Eagle Cam Web Log so we can talk about the nest happenings.

For those who are new to our Eagle Cam, we are in our third year with the eagles and their nest, which is in a loblolly pine tree at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge, Maryland. The Friends of Blackwater run both the Osprey Cam and the Eagle Cam, as well as this website. The Friends are a non-profit citizen support group that helps the US Fish and Wildlife Service staff carry out their educational, interpretive, and recreational missions at the Refuge. All of the Friends who work for the Refuge are unpaid volunteers, and we give our time because we believe in the Refuge System's goal of protecting local wildlife and habitat.

Blackwater NWR is one of over 540 wildlife refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System, which is the only group of federal lands where wildlife is supposed to come first. Blackwater Refuge is unique in that we host one of the largest breeding populations of bald eagles in the country.

During our 2004-2005 Eagle Cam season, we were privileged to watch three bald eaglets hatch and fledge at the nest, and last year we were fortunate again to watch two chicks hatch and fledge. If you'd like to learn more about the nesting season and what to expect, be sure to read our entertaining Eagle Watchers' Guide (2.5 MB PDF file), which features highlights from our first year with the Eagle Cam.

At this stage of the 2006-2007 season, we can't guarantee that we will get to see any eggs or chicks, but if the eagles continue to bond and to tend to the nest, then sometime around the middle or end of January, we would hope to see an egg appear. During the last two seasons, whenever the female spent her first full night in the nest, the first egg appeared the next morning. So that is the timeline we're looking at -- hopefully an egg by the middle or end of January, or the first half of February at the latest. After the first egg appears, an additional egg or two might arrive, with the eggs coming 2-3 days apart.

Before I close this first web log entry, I wanted to share an interesting eagle story. Brian McCarthy from Magnolia, Delaware, had a very unusual eagle encounter right before Christmas and was kind enough to share a couple photos along with his unusual tale.

Brian saw two bald eagles locked together by the talons and cartwheeling through the sky. Cartwheeling -- or sky dancing -- is a common behavior among eagles that are about to mate. However, there are also times when two eagles that are competing over a territory or a mate will also lock talons and cartwheel through the sky, only to let go just before they hit the ground or water.

In Brian's case, the eagles didn't quite make it, and instead of breaking apart, this pair actually crashed. Brian said the birds appeared to be in a state of shock from their fall, so the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control was notified, and they sent a game warden out to help the eagles. Fortunately, the eagles appeared to be all right and flew away before the warden could capture them to check them over. Much thanks to Brian for sharing his unusual experience and for sharing the two photos below showing the eagles. Click on the thumbnails for a larger version.

If you'd like to see the cartwheeling behavior in action, National Geographic has posted a wonderful video showing two sea eagles engaged in a cartwheeling challenge (note: there is a short ad at the beginning of the video clip).

Mid-winter Eagle Survey

I also wanted to mention that on January 11, we will be holding our 2007 Mid-winter Eagle Survey at Blackwater Refuge. If you live in the area and think you might want to volunteer, read our Survey page to learn more. Annual mid-winter eagle surveys are held throughout the country and help states measure the health of their local eagle populations.

Eagle Gallery

In closing, I want to thank everyone who has been sending in photos for our Eagle Gallery. The Gallery serves as a lasting record of the nesting season, and it is also helpful for cam watchers who miss some of the action while they're away from their computers. If you have never submitted a photo but want to find out how you can contribute, visit our Photo Submission page, which includes easy directions for capturing photos and emailing them to us.

Thanks for joining us on our new eagle adventure, and we hope our eagles will provide us with another exciting nesting season.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)