Minnesota Department of Natural Resources News - WebCam - Eagle Cam Update

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Hello Eagle Fans!

Thank you for your patience in waiting for this update.  So many projects are happening this time of the year, and thankfully our eagles have had very little drama lately! 

By this time, the young eagles are doing a great job of exercising their wings and taking small flights across the nest.  At this age, they are able to go several days without food and they weight between 8 and 12 pounds.  Their downy feathers have been replaced with strong feathers that will support them in flight.  Their feet have developed a very strong grip for grabbing prey items including slippery fish! 

We are sure the eaglets have been fed close to every day and multiple times a day.  Many folks have been worried from time to time about the presence of the parents.  They are definitely still around.  It would be very, very unlikely for them to abandon the nest now.  They have invested almost 6 months into their young and leaving them now is just not in their nature.  You can actually see the young birds looking up above them from time to time - when they do this, they are looking and listening to their parents.  And good parents they have been! 

We are also grateful that the youngest eaglet has caught up to its sibling and is strong and healthy.  The sibling has certainly been challenging the youngster, mantling over the prey and not sharing meals.  We have seen the young one grab the food and get a good meal often, so it will only make the littlest one stronger in the long run and it is thriving!

We will be keeping the camera on for several weeks yet, moving it around as much as we are able, to view the youngsters as they learn to fly.  We will send out a note when the camera will be shut off, which will happen when almost no activity is happening in or around the nest. 

 

Finally, Thank you all who have been supportive, both in emails and monetarily.  We very much appreciate the donations that have come in and all the fans we have gained are tremendous!  We are still in need of funds for the final few days of our fiscal year.  Our fiscal year ends on June 30th - this coming Monday.  So, if you haven't donated, please consider making a small contribution so that we can continue our Nongame work and add more cameras in the future.  Again, your donations are DOUBLED by the matching Critical Habitat License Plate fund.  Your $25 donation is automatically $50!  How cool is that!?

Thanks so much and have a great weekend!