As I write this there are two fluffy little chicks in the Duke Farms nest. They will have an audience of millions of eagle cam viewers watching them as they grow and fledge. As the adult eagles step around the nest, look closely and you will notice that one of them is banded. The male is A/59 and he is twenty-two years old. Twenty-two years ago I began my career with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation working with the New Jersey Eagle Project. In March 2000, A/59 hatched in a nest located in Greenwich, Cumberland County. When he was two weeks of age, he was fostered into a nest along the Rancocas River in Burlington County. The Rancocas pair had failed to produce their own young for a few years and fostering a healthy chick into the nest would help to keep the pairs fidelity to the nest site.
On May 15, 2000, he was banded and a radio transmitter was attached with a harness which was designed to eventually fall off. A/59 fledged on June 3 and was tracked until the transmitter’s signal was last recorded on October 22. You can read more details about the telemetry in the 2000 Bald Eagle Report.
February 7, 2022
In 2000, when he hatched and I started working with eagles there were 25 nesting pairs of eagles that fledged 29 young. Compare that to last year’s numbers of 247 pairs we monitored and 296 young fledged. As the number of eagles increases in New Jersey so does the competition for nest sites. A/59 has been able to defend and hold onto his territory at Duke Farms since 2009.
It’s very interesting to know the history of this eagle. I feel a bond with him since we both started our “eagle” journey at the same time.
E/63 along Hackensack Jan. 28, 2022 photo by Lisa Katz
Each year biologists with NJ Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program & CWF venture out to eagle nests to band the chicks, take blood samples and measurements. The chicks are banded with a green NJ band that has a specific code and a silver federal band. At the time of banding the chicks are approximately six weeks old and have a few weeks left in the nest before they fledge. In 2018, we started to publish the re-sightings in the Annual Eagle Report. In 2022, we have already received quite a few re-sightings. E/63 is one of those eagles.
The 2021 nesting season was another successful one for New Jersey’s bald eagles, with the statewide population remaining stable at 247 nest sites. Of these nests, 222 were active (with eggs) with 296 young produced. Twenty-seven new eagle pairs were found.
Three Bridges adult perched on tower December 5th 2021 by Lisa Romero
We are happy to announce that the Three Bridges Eagle Cam will go live on December 15th. This fall, the nesting platform atop the transmission tower received some improvements from PSE&G. The perches were moved for a better camera view and replaced with wood to provide better perches for the adults and a second wooden perch was added along one of the sides. A foam baffle was added to the microphone to help buffer wind noise. These improvements will make the platform better for the eagles as well as enhance the viewing experience.
The 2021 New Jersey eagle nesting season was another good year for NJ’s eagle population. The final numbers and details will be available in the 2021 Annual Bald Eagle report published in December. There are over 100 eagle project volunteers who monitor eagle nests/s during the season. They are an extremely dedicated group who not only monitor eagle nests but help to protect the nests. Volunteers become familiar with their pairs and get to witness all kinds of eagle (and other wildlife) activity. I asked the volunteers to send me their one favorite photo from this season.
“Jersey Girl” is a NJ banded eagle (B/64). She was reported to us in 2014 by Linda Oughton, who has been keeping track of her and her mate since 2010. They nest is in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. B/64 was banded in 2004 at a nest in Cumberland County NJ, located along the Cohansey River. ‘Jersey Girl” is seventeen years old.
The Associated Press released a video story exploring how the rise in popularity of live streaming bald eagle nest cameras has revealed the diversity of personalities and behaviors of the U.S. national symbol.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation executive director David Wheeler and New Jersey Eagle Project volunteer Kevin Buynie are featured.
“Duke’ with transmitter, June 1, 2021 @ Barb McKee
Seven months ago, I learned that “Duke” had flown back to Somerset County in central Jersey, and was perched along the Raritan River not far upstream of his natal nest at Duke Farms. He was also very close to my home on the Millstone River in Hillsborough. Thus began my shared adventure with Duke, the 2019 fledgling who was outfitted with a satellite transmitter at banding (E/88) that May. I wrote a CWF blog, “Duke’s” Homecoming in January about those months during the fall and winter, of following and photographing Duke as he explored areas I knew well from bicycling and volunteering for the Eagle Project. I am very grateful and humble to have “found” Duke on quite a few occasions throughout November, December, and January. The trees were bare of leaves, and Duke’s full attention was on keeping himself fed. I gradually learned his habits and noted he tended to stick with several favorite roosts, perches, and hang-outs! It took patience, persistence, and a lot of luck! January 19, 2021, was the last time I saw Duke reasonably close, photographed and videographed him on a field in Hillsborough owned by Duke Farms.
Following that frigid, breezy, gray day in mid-winter, January 19, Duke headed north to Tewksbury where he spent most of his time on large, private farms and estates not conducive to allowing access to a wandering, eagle-watching, trespassing photographer! I could imagine he was finding prey in the fields, along the creeks, and in the occasional farm pond. I took many photos of bucolic scenery to share with others who were interested in Duke’s travels. At the end of January, central Jersey got snow storms which dumped an estimated accumulation of more than 2 feet of snow on the ground. Animals seemed to vanish. Even road kill was scarce. I worried that Duke would starve….that is, until while scrutinizing Google Earth, I realized he had settled on a hunting preserve that raised game fowl! He simply perched near the pens, let the hawk do the hunting, and no doubt “stole” from the smaller raptors! I stopped being so worried! For the entire snow-covered month of February, and half of March, Duke remained in Tewksbury. A couple times he dashed back to Duke Farms (approximately 20 miles to the south) and the Raritan River nearby. On one of those quick visits to his natal “home” he even visited me, perching again near our landing on the Millstone and downstream near the confluence with the main Raritan.
In part 4 of this blog series the Three Bridges eagle pair had returned to the newly installed nest platform. We are happy to report that incubation began on February 24th.
nest exchange during incubation @ Dan Brill
Nest monitors have reported that hatching was occurring on April 2nd. Since nest monitors can’t see into the nest they go by the adults behavior to indicate hatching. The adult will start sitting higher on the nest, looking down more often and moving around. The eggs hatch in the order in which they were laid, so there could be a chick, while the adult continues to incubate any remaining eggs. The adults will feed the chick and a steady supply of food will be brought into the nest. Unfortunately the cam is currently not operational. It will require access to the pole to diagnosis the problem. A visit isn’t possible at this point, due to the nesting pair.
The two Duke Farms bald eagle chicks peek out from under their parent to catch some sun.
It looks like the Duke Farm’s nest will only have two chicks this season.
One egg remains in the nest bowl and is still being incubated, but based on when the second chick hatched, March 1st, it should have hatched by now. We won’t know for certain why the egg didn’t hatch, but one theory is that it was the first egg laid.
There had been intruder eagles at the nest and fights between the adults and intruders. At one point both adults were off the nest for 20 minutes while an immature was in the nest. Perhaps something happened to the egg during these incidents.
The egg will eventually get buried in the nest or shoved to the side. The adults are busy bringing food to the nest for feedings and both chicks are getting plenty of food.
