2/18/2016 | While we wait (with fingers crossed) that the an eagle egg will arrive anytime now, we thought we'd offer a quick lesson in Bald Eagle Nests 101. If you watched the Eagle Cam yesterday morning, or around 8:30 this morning, you likely saw one or both adults working on the nest.
The male in particular was busy bringing in sticks, and then arranging (and rearranging) them around the edge of the bowl.Although the new cam provides a crystal-clear view of the nest, even at night, it can't quite convey just how big this mass of sticks and leaves is. This nest is more than three years old, first constructed in late 2012 after Hurricane Sandy destroyed the earlier one, and then added to ever since. The nest is approximately seven feet wide and several feet deep, and located in a huge Sycamore on a portion of the Duke Farms property that is off limits to the public. The nest is roughly 80 feet off the ground; the photo at right, taken last fall when the nest was unoccupied, gives you an idea of how high off the ground the nest is. An earlier post about the Duke Farms nest can be found here. An earlier post about Bald Eagle nests in general can be found here. An earlier post about the history of Bald Eagle nests in America can be found here. To get a notification whenever we post something new about our Bald Eagles on this blog, sign up for the RSS feed on right.
Coming Tuesday: All About Bald Eagle Eggs (We hope.)
Eagle questions? E-mail Jim at celeryfarm@mail.com Some may be used in future posts.
Jim Wright writes The Bird Watcher column for The Record. He is the author of four photography-driven books about natural areas, including the New Jersey Meadowlands, and Pennsylvanias Hawk Mountain.