Audubon EagleWatch Monitoring

One of my favorite things about being an intern at Corkscrew is participating in Audubon's EagleWatch with our director of public programs, Sally. EagleWatch is a citizen science program that anyone can participate in if they have a love and appreciation for eagles. The purpose of EagleWatch is to monitor Florida's Bald Eagles throughout their nesting season. As an EagleWatch volunteer, we are the lookouts for our eagles, ensuring the safety of a particular nesting pair and eventually, their chicks. The reports that are done by volunteers are beneficial to biologists, as well as law enforcement such as FWC and US Fish and Wildlife. Based on the information we provide Audubon, environmental protection leaders can determine the best way to conserve this species for the future.

I started observing our eagle's nest in November 2017 when I first started at Corkscrew. This particular nest that sits on Audubon's property is not located near the boardwalk, so unfortunately, if you are visiting the sanctuary you will not be able to see it. At this time in late November, the eagles were still building their nest back up after hurricane Irma damaged their old one. Eagles tend to return to the same nest year after year, and they weren't going to let the hurricane's damage stop them! Building the nest is a lengthy process and can take months, but both the male and the female participate in nest building. Working together reinforces their bond, and also speeds up the process!

By January, the eagles were observed sitting on their nest. We are unsure of when the eggs were actually laid, as it is impossible to see inside the nest, but we can assume it was around the first few weeks into the new year. Eagles will sit on and incubate their eggs for roughly 35 days before they hatch.

Finally, on Valentines Day, we observed that there was an eaglet! This was such an exciting moment for all who were invested in observing this nest.

This one, fluffy, dinosaur-like head popped out of the nest and we all squealed with joy. This eaglet was our first evidence of a hatchling, but we weren't sure of how many would appear since we weren't aware of how many eggs were in the nest. After another week or two of observations, we were overjoyed to see that there were actually three eaglets in the nest!

This picture was taken at the end of February, and you can see all three eaglets with their parent on the nest.

Today, our eaglets are just about two months old, and they will start branching any day now. This past week, one of the eaglets has demonstrated the beginning stages of branching. Branching is when they start flapping their wings to build muscle, and jump from branch to branch.

This picture is my most recent, and it shows all three eaglets (one is laying on the bottom of the nest, resting). They grow up so fast!

The next time we observe them, which will be by the end of this week, we expect to see at least one of the eaglets maybe in a nearby tree, branching. This has been such a beautiful process, and amazing that all three chicks have made it this far and all appear to be healthy.

Until next time,

Shelby