Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Eagle Lays Egg!

Good morning! I was so excited to wake this morning and see that the females was still on the nests. Then with coffee in hand I waited to see if there was an egg. YES THERE IS!

What great news. I wanted to give you some basic nesting biology.

Incubation is 35 days give or take a day. That would mean that the first egg should hatch around May 6th. Mark your calenders! Some of you have asked how this timing compares to the rest of the state. Yesterday I asked our Raptor Program Director, Chris DeSorbo, about the timing of nesting. He told me we are right in the middle of the time when birds start nesting in Maine. So the birds are right on time.

Over the nest 3-6 days we should see the rest of the eggs laid, which generally will be one to two more for a total of 2-3 eggs. You will see the female on the nest most of the time (around 75%). Look for her standing up and rotating the egg around every 1/2 hour.

Also you may be able to see how careful the adults are around the egg. They will walk around the egg with their talons balled up in a fist so they don't damage the egg.

Finally, there was a question about how long an egg can go without being incubated. Although the exact amount of time is not fully understood, the eggs can withstand a little bit of cooling.

This is great news!

Thank you for all your great observations.

Wing Goodale
BioDiversity Research Institute

22 comments:

  1. 4-1-09 7:45
    Wing, Just noticed the "changing of the guard", Dad took over for Mom, pulled his talons in and gently sat down to cover the egg.

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  2. 4-1-09 8:10 EST

    I'm very happy to see we have a family. One Eagle is in the nest. The other just flew in, stayed for a minute and left. I think he brought breakfast because now she's eating.

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  3. Good morning Wing. I just wanted to ask a quick question for clarification. Are the eagles on the original website different from the eagles on the Eaglecam2 website? I am not sure the bloggers are clear and I know that I am not clear.

    I am very happy to have an egg in the nest though!

    Thanks,
    Melissa in ME

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  4. My class of sixth graders was VERY excited to see the egg in the nest. Let's hope more are to come!

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  5. Why is the time three hours off?

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  6. 4-1-09 3:30 p.m.
    Thanks guys for new NEW view !! This is really great. Been checking in many times during the day today,hopefully she will lay another egg.

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  7. Glad to see things moving forward in this nest. Not much going on at nest 1 over on the coast.

    Bill in Conn.

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  8. April 1st 4:18 EST

    Both Eagles are at the nest. One is sitting in the bowl and the other was arranging sticks on the edge. One is now on a branch and the other is on the edge looking into the nest I see one egg very clearly. One is plucking feathers from it's lunch and the other one just flew off. The remaining Eagle is on the edge of the nest looking around and eating. The second Eagle is back. This is such a good view - I can see everything but the camera seems to get stuck and it's a still shot for about 30 seconds before it starts going again. This happens quite often.

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  9. 4-2-09 9:37 a.m.
    Unable to get the live feed on the falcon and eagle cam, is anybody else having this difficulty?

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  10. 4-2 09 11:54 EST

    Judy, I'm able to get the live feed but it keeps cutting out,microphone and all.

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  11. Hi
    I have never been able to get any live feed on this cam either but wonderful news to have an egg

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  12. April 2 - 10:17 PM EST

    The Eagle is on the nest in a position I've never seen before. The wings are spread out to the edges of the nest and her head is down and she appears to be sound asleep. it sounds like it's raining so maybe that's her way of keeping the nest dry.

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  13. April 2 11:18 PM EST

    She's changed position but her wings are still protecting the nest. It's raining pretty hard.

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  14. So awesome to see the live feed on the camera looking into the nest....I still love this site more than any other web cam : )

    Maine_Native

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  15. 2:53 in Michigan

    She sitting on the egg looking around and it sounds like it's still raining although I can't see it. This is an excellent view of the nest bowl.

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  16. 04/03 @ 18:45

    Is it time to be expecting another egg? I have not caught her off the nest to do a count.

    JAM in IL

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  17. At 7:41 she got up and rotated 2 eggs.

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  18. April 4th

    It sounds like it's raining but it's been going on for days and I don't see raindrops. Does anyone know what the noise is?

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  19. 4/4 8:25 EST

    Walked into room just in time to see a change of position and TWO eggs !! What a wonderful start to the weekend. All the angst of the past two seasons has been replaced with new hope for the future.

    Liz in Maine

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  20. 04/03 @ 09:04

    Hooray! Thanks for the posts updating the egg count. I wondered how Mom would do with all the precip. She looks absolutely soaked this morning. Nice to at least see the shoreline thawing.

    My audio has been nothing but "whoosh" for a few days now. Even when I see beaks moving, I get no other sound but the whoosh. Miss hearing the chatter.

    Hope to catch a glimpse of both eggs this morning.

    JAM in IL

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  21. 04-04 @ 12:21

    Please excuse my earlier post. Lost a day and listed it as 04-03 @ 09:04.
    Yikes.

    Correct: 04-04 @ 09:04

    Soon after I realized a problem with the live feed and have just posted that info as a comment to our latest update.

    JAM in IL

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  22. WHEN is this site going to get fixed so that we can get the live stream! We are missing out on a LOT of time with the eagle. I fear that we will miss the hatching and feeding if this site is not fixed soon. If that happens you have lost one member completely and forever!
    ANGRY!
    OmaForFour in ME

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