For the last 5 weeks, our resident Bald Eagle pair has been seen at their nest 
in a dead tree on the edge of our back road beaver pond here at SERC in 
Edgewater. Previous attempts to see eggs or hatchlings this year yielded nothing 
but today, maybe because of the warm temps, momma eagle was standing up and 
could be seen tearing chunks of meat from some unseen food item and feeding them 
to two eaglets. They are still pretty wobbly looking and one is clearly larger 
than the other. They have gray fuzzy down which will soon be replaced with black 
juvenal plumage.

This is the third nesting for this pair as four years ago the nest was that of a 
Red-tailed Hawk. The first nesting had two eaglets which disappeared some time 
in late April, 2009. No bodies were ever found. We suspect a Great Horned 
Owl. The 2010 nesting had one successful fledgling. We'll see how this year 
goes!

The nest is best viewed from the top of our 120 foot meteorological tower which 
isn't for everyone! Some folks get about 100 feet up, see that they're above the 
canopy and head back down. Others don't even make it that high. I have to go up 
there every week to change out a collection bottle for our wet deposition 
mercury collector and the only thing that bothers me now is if it's cold and 
windy. You'll turn into a popsicle in no time ;)
 
Tyler Bell

California, Maryland 


      

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