NJ Eagle Cams: Ready For The 2024 Nesting Season

by: Senior Biologist, Larissa Smith

Three Bridges Eagle Cam

The Three Bridges eagle cam went live for the 2024 nesting season on December 1st. A pair of eagles made an appearance that morning. The Three Bridges nesting platform was used by eagles in 2021, when they successfully raised two young. During the 2022 and 2023 nesting seasons, the pair were seen at the nest platform but ended up using a nest in a tree. We will see if the pair decides to use the nest platform this season. For now we believe that the Three Bridges pairs territory is both the nest tree and platform. As the numbers of nesting Bald Eagles continues to increase New Jersey there is the possibility that a second eagle pair could nest at the platform. Last nesting season there was lots of eagle action at the tower, eagles of all ages stopped by along with many different avian species. A pair of Osprey’s took interest in the nest platform but didn’t end up laying eggs. An American Kestrel perched at the platform on the first day the cam was live. It’ll be interesting to see what activity occurs at the tower this season.

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Part 6: Three Bridges Eagles Fledge

by: Larissa Smith, CWF Wildlife Biologist

I started writing the Three Bridges blog series at the end of November 2020. At the time we had no idea if the eagle pair would return to the newly installed nest box, nest somewhere else or nest at all this season. In the last blog post Part 5, the eggs had hatched. Since that last blog a lot has happened at the nest. On April 2nd nest monitors determined that hatching was occurring and on April 14th it was determined that there were two chicks. On May 14th, the nest was visited by PSE&G and NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife, Endangered and Nongame Species Program. The chicks were banded with silver federal bands and green NJ bands H/04 and H/05. Both chicks were determined to be males. During the nest visit the camera was fixed and a whole new close up view of the nest appeared.

Three Bridges eagle cam; June 13th, 2021

Cam viewers got to watch the young eagles as they learned to feed themselves and started preparing their wing muscles for flight, by flapping and hopping around the nest. When eagles are nesting in a tree the young will perch on branches which is called “branching”. In this case the chicks don’t have any branches, so the perches were built as substitute branches. Nest monitor, Mary Ellen Hill, got the below screen shot of one of the chicks perched for the first time. The young eagles also used the metal arm of the pole for perching.

On June 20th, H/04 took his first flight and his brother H/05 followed on June 22, all of which was caught on camera. Eagle Project volunteer Diane Wilson Cook has made a webpage, Bald Eagles at Three Bridges with the video clips from these flights. The fledges have been returning to the nest platform since fledging. The parent’s are still bringing food to the nest for the young eagles as they will be in the nest area for the next few weeks as they learn to hunt and survive on their own.

H/04 June 21, 2021@ Tom Gunia

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Part 1: An Eagle Nest Removed

by Larissa Smith, CWF Biologist

April 21, 2020, Three Bridges adult with 2 chicks@ Daniel Kroon

The following was written by NJ Eagle Project volunteer, Daniel Kroon. He monitors this nest along with several other dedicated volunteers whose photos are featured in this blog.

The Three Bridges (Hunterdon County) eagle nest is located on the top arm of an electric transmission tower. This pair has successfully nested on the tower for the past five years. This line of towers is scheduled to be replaced with new monopoles and the work on it has recently begun. PSE&G is cooperating with the NJ Bald Eagle program to move this nest to a new pole platform. Unfortunately, the pair is already on territory and have been observed bringing a stick to the old nest. It is an interesting story of how these eagles are adapting to the human-created environment and how we are trying to accommodate them.

The pair at nest October 17, 2020 before work begins @ Mary Ellen Hill

On November 4, PSE&G removed the top of the tower, keeping the nest intact, and lowered it to the ground where they carefully removed the nest from the tower structure. The nest is stored in a shed and will be re-installed on a platform affixed to the new tower when it is erected. We hope the eagle pair accept their remodeled home.

The evening of the nest removal, volunteer Mary Ellen Hill observed the pair sitting together on the adjacent tower.

November 4th, 2020 @ Mary Ellen Hill
November 4th, 2020, pair on adjacent tower after nest removal@ Mary Ellen Hill

We will follow up with part two of this story once the new monopole tower is installed and the nest is placed back up on the platform. We thank all the nest monitors, PSE&G and everyone involved to make this as successful as possible.