Florida Eagle cam

[Donna]

http://www.ustream.tv/SouthwestFloridaEagleCam Southwest Fla.  

[Donna]

1st egg

Ozzie & Harriet

[Wing Goose]

Do bald eagles nest this early.  I am amazed!
                       
                             Lola

[Patti from Kentucky]

Do bald eagles nest this early.  I am amazed!
                       
                             Lola

I think Bald Eagles nest at different times depending on where their nesting territory is and whether food is available.  Since fish are their primary source of food, Bald Eagles need unfrozen bodies of water, so eagles who nest around the Great Lakes, for example, have to wait until the lakes thaw.  In Kentucky, according the KY Fish & Wildlife website, "bald eagles usually lay eggs during January-March, but will begin nest building and repair as early as October."  Our big lakes and rivers (Ohio/Mississippi) typically stay open all winter, but even with a harsh winter when the lakes partially freeze over, they are almost guaranteed to be ice-free by the time the chicks hatch and parents have a couple of extra mouths to feed.  Obviously those Florida eagles have even more flexibility.

I learned, on some eagle-watching trip, that Bald Eagles typically nest within 200 miles of where they fledged.  So I guess if you're born on Lake Erie, you come down and spend the winter in Kentucky, but go back to Lake Erie to nest.  That's also why they specifically used hack-box techniques to reintroduce eagles to states where eagles had become extirpated.  For example, when no eagles were being born in Kentucky, Indiana, or Ohio, no eagles were returning to those states to nest.  So they took young eagles who were old enough to feed themselves and put them into artificial nests in those states so that once those birds fledged, they would return to the area to nest.  I visited one of the old hack-box sites where they did this in western Kentucky; they used a pulley contraption to lower food into the nest to the young eagles to avoid exposing them to humans.  Pretty remarkable effort and a pretty remarkable success story.

[Wing Goose]

Thanks so much for all the information on the
Bald Eagle Patti.  I should have figured that there is a lot
of thought by the Bald Eagles to be so successful.
Again, thank you!
                       
                                    Lola

[Donna]

Congrats Harriet and Ozzie on Egg #2!   

[AlisonL]

A view of the two eggs this evening:

[Donna]

http://youtu.be/8hDzYhLOpOA Harriett defends her nest!

[Donna]

1st Hatch on New Year's Day! Congrats Ozzie & Harriet

[MAK]

1st Hatch on New Year's Day! Congrats Ozzie & Harriet

  

[AlisonL]

The tiny eaglet:

[Donna]

The tiny eaglet:

Aren't they adorable? Thanks Alison

[AlisonL]

Two more pics:

   

[Kris G.]

Their FB page said this morning that the other egg is in the process of hatching! 

[AlisonL]

Their FB page said this morning that the other egg is in the process of hatching! 

Oh, I hope the other egg is hatching! I was watching earlier, but couldn't get a clear view.