One chick hatched, one more on the way on Minnesota DNR EagleCam

An eagle sits on a nest
An eagle sits on a nest in view of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' EagleCam on Thursday.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Wintry mix? Check. Basketball tournament snowstorm? Got it. And now, another sure sign of spring in Minnesota: Eaglets are hatching in the bald eagle nest in front of the DNR’s EagleCam. 

The agency says one of the two eggs in the Twin Cities-area nest hatched this week — at least that’s what appears to have happened under the two full-grown birds of prey that are sitting on the nest these days. The DNR says it believes the other egg will hatch any moment, and there will be a pair of eaglets to coo over on the livestream. 

“Weather at the nest has been cold and wet,” the DNR said in an update this week. “This means we probably won’t get a good look at the chick until things dry out a bit... hopefully the nest will dry out enough for the world to witness the first feeding.” 

It’s been a dramatic season so far — as far as bald eagles go. 

The DNR dropped off a deer, killed in a road crash, for a snack a few days ago; eagles are well-known scavengers.

The camera also caught a raccoon trying to climb into the nest and nosh on the first egg about a week after it was laid in mid-February — only to be driven off by the swooping male’s fly-by, talons out. 

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