Jordan Lake. An incubating bald eagle – one sitting on eggs – occasionally just has to stretch their wings. That’s a dangerous maneuver. If it is wintertime (bald eagle’s normal temperature is 99.5°F ) and the parent is off of the egg(s) even briefly the eggs will die because they quickly become chilled. This is dad eagle at First Nest. From the time he leaves the nest until he gets back and settles in on his eggs is 43 seconds. We need to keep this in mind when we’re thinking about the Shelter 8 nest. Because intrusions of any kind, human or otherwise, that keep the parent off the nest too long can be fatal to the eggs (which haven’t been laid yet at Shelter 8).