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I was getting worried there for a while, since this mated pair
had eggs earlier last season.

I just love watching this. It is so interesting and fascinating to see how attentive the eagle parents are.

Thanks for posting this Mrs.D...I was getting worried too.
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There is now a second egg!

There is a slide show there with close ups. Looks like our Mom Eagle was very tired after laying it, and she seems conked out!

Yesterday afternoon at 5:05pm.

The eagles are very busy now.

The female probably laid it yesterday just after midnight (17th).
There is a video on their forum showing her all puffed up and uncomfortable looking at that time.

There have also been fly-bys by unidentified birds, and the
eagles have been very vocal. So I hope we do not get a
repeat of last year's dramas.

So now we all wait... for the chicks!

The Blackwater cam is having a hatching of one egg.


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If you click on hatching alert you can see the hole in one of the eggs. The chick will make holes all around the egg and then kick the ends off.

It is really tough timing...they are having a snow/ice storm!

The Norfolk cam is down.

Here is a video posted on Photobucket, showing the Norfolk eagles making a
brooding switch, so the female can eat. This was before the snow arrived.
Unfortunately, the cam is down there now, and we cannot see what is happening.

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In 2007 there was a terrible March storm ..Nor'easter...and the Maine eagles on the National Geographic cam that year, lost all their chicks. So when weather is like this, the parents are really stressed and their skill makes all the difference!

The snow at Blackwater is DEEP....

here is a screen capture of it. I see footprints across it too.
Today we should see the first chick hatch!

I hope it warms up soon!

edit to add:
The first chick has hatched at Blackwater @ 6:32 am
There is a still picture of it posted there.

The second picture was just posted there...
The chick's first meal.
I guess the snow is not so terrible to the eagles.
It just looks stressful to us! (or at least me)

The second egg at Blackwater has hatched. There are now two
chicks there.

It is much harder to see the action on the type of cam however, but the newly hatched chicks are my favorite time, anyway.

Yesterday there was quite a "fish" layout buffet on the nest.
Sitting on the snow, it looked impressive, left by the male for the Mom and baby! (not like last year when he did not provide quite as well).

those pictures are great Mrs. D. Feel sorry for the eagle sitting in that cold though and yes the fish is great!

So excited about the 3-egg clutch again this year!

Here is an interesting thing from the Blackwater blog:



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I also discovered that I can ZOOM with my view tools in Firefox and make the Blackwater pictures larger...you can see the
little chicks better this way.
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Update at Blackwater....

The chicks are eating up a storm. You can see feeding often.
They are cute and growing very fast.


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hint== you can zoom in with "view" tools, a 4xzoom gives a good closeup.