BAD NEWS

2012 Eagle Cam Web Log
February 27, 2012
Our latest news from the nest is that the surviving chick did not make it, so we lost both chicks to what appeared to be an eagle intruder. We've seen individual adults leaving the nest on and off, but it's not clear which adults have been visiting.
We know it's sad to lose the second eaglet, but since there's a good chance the chick was injured, we think it was a merciful thing that it did not survive, especially if the parents are dealing with another eagle around the nest.
Some of you who were with us during the 2004-2005 season remember Craig Koppie, a raptor expert with the U.S. Fish and Wildife Service. He was the one who helped deal with the George and Martha eagle drama at the Wilson Bridge and other raptor events in the Washington DC area. He's also the person who climbed our Eagle Cam nest in 2005 to take one of our chicks to Vermont for the eagle restoration project in that state.
The staff at Blackwater Refuge have asked Craig to review the video and stills and offer a biologist's opinion about what might have happened at our nest. We're waiting to hear if Craig will have time to take on this task, but we're hoping he does, since he's familiar with eagle aggression and how these types of incidents are increasing as the bald eagle population grows and eagles are vying for prime nesting spots and mates.
We've decided to keep the cam offline for just a bit longer. We will be bringing it online again soon, but we hope you'll understand our decision. We do have a good bit of news in that we're being allowed back into our old PC room this week (the room that was damaged by the rain), which means we should be able to bring the Osprey Cam online soon.
Cam watchers have asked if we think our eagle couple might lay more eggs this season. It's rather late in the season for new eggs, so we don't expect them to produce any more at this time.