Minnesota DNR says bald eagle pair is still defending site where EagleCam nest fell
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is weighing its options for the future of its popular EagleCam, after the nest featured on the livestream fell from its tree last weekend.
EagleCam project manager Lori Naumann said the bald eagle pair is still defending the location where the nest fell, claiming the life of the eagles’ chick.
Naumann said she’s hopeful the eagles will rebuild nearby. The Twin Cities-area nest has been the focus of the popular live video feed for a decade.
“It’s an ideal spot for them in terms of hunting and prey, they have everything they need there and they have had to defend this territory from other eagles for years because it is such a coveted spot. So we’re hopeful — we’re hopeful that they will stay in the area,” Naumann said.
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In case they don’t, Naumann said she will also be looking at several alternative sites.
“I will be spending some time over the next couple of months surveying active nests to see whether or not they are a good candidate,” she said. “There’s several conditions that have to be met in order to have it be a viable site.”
Those conditions include a site that's accessible, with electricity available nearby.
Any new camera would be installed in the fall, after young eagles leave the nest. The current camera will remain online until it's clear whether the eagles will rebuild the nest or move.
Naumann said it’s been a tough few days since the nest fell on Sunday, knowing how many people — especially students — were following the activities of the two adult eagles and the chick that had hatched just a week before.
“My first thought as I was heading to the nest site was all of the children, all of the kids that are watching this and probably saw that happen — and how devastated they were going to be about losing the chick. And that part of it, for me, was the hardest part,” she said.
But Naumann said it’s a learning experience about “something that happens in nature all the time.”
“Just because we have a camera on the nest doesn't mean that we’re going to give it any special consideration as far as, you know — people are asking us, ‘Can you rebuild the nest and put it back in a tree?’ Or, you know, ‘Can you put up an artificial platform for the pair so they can nest there again?’ And all those kinds of things — and that’s just not the way nature works.”
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reported southeast winds gusting in excess of 30 mph around the time the nest fell Sunday morning.
The DNR said that it’s likely that the wind, combined with heavy, wet snow from the April 1 blizzard, caused the branch supporting the nest to snap. The agency said the nest was more than 20 years old and estimated to weigh more than 2,000 pounds.
Naumann said the tree was dead and they knew it had been getting weaker, so the collapse — while upsetting — was not completely unexpected.