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).

Jordan Lake. First Nest. I had not seen any eagles at all anywhere near First Nest for at least six weeks. Then I was sent a text that said an eagle was in First Nest. Indeed there was a female in the nest and eventually we saw the male out flying. These photos were done this morning in the rain and so they are not the clearest at all. It looks like the female is incubating eggs! I will have to wait to get a very good photo of both parents before I know for sure whether or not they are Kate and her mate. Stay tuned!