George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center

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Live Bald Eagle Nest Camera

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Feed from Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge near Vian, Oklahoma

Feed from Sooner Lake north of Stillwater, Oklahoma

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When commenting, please specify which nest your observations pertain to (either Sequoyah/Vian or the Sooner Lake nest).

This camera project would not have been possible without the major support of: OG&E, OneNet, Atlas Broadband, OU College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Biological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Additional support provided by: Newfield Foundation, The John Steele Zink Foundation, and individual donors.

3 February 2012: With regard to adult eagles' feeding of chicks, you may or may not have noticed precisely how the act of transferring food from the adult to the tiny chicks occurs. The adult tears off a tiny morsel of fish/meat and holds it in the end of its beak with the upper and lower mandibles just slightly apart, saline dripping as described in yesterday's post. The adult never approaches the chick face to face with symmetrical alignment. Instead, the adult turns its head about ninety degrees to the side, allowing the chick to then grasp the morsel by "scissoring" the tips of its mandibles along the (now) vertical slot formed by the small gap between the adult's upper and lower mandibles, allowing easy access to the food by the chick.

You might also notice that when the adult prepares to brood the chicks, the adult walks slowly around the chicks and "balls up" its feet so that the sharp talons are not exposed. As the adult gently slips its "balled up" feet in around or among the individual chicks, it is careful to avoid each baby. The single, central brood patch where down and body feathers have dropped out of the adult's belly (in contrast to the two separate brood patches present on falcons) allows direct contact by eggs or chicks to warmth provided by the adult's skin. Capillaries near the skin's surface carry heat from circulating blood, very similar to the operation of a radiator. The loose down that is on the body of the chick helps it squirm around under the parent and find a microclimate where the chick is comfortable, regardless of current weather conditions. On warm days you may notice heads pop out from under the adult in an effort to cool down when the chicks are becoming too warm.

2 February 2012: Nasal glands in the anterior part of the eagle skull produce a saline solution that runs from the nares or nostrils of the feeding adult and down the beak to drip off its tip and onto the small bits of meat fed to the chicks. This keeps the sticky fish flesh moist and makes it easier for the chicks to swallow. There is speculation over whether such secretions include some type of disease resistant content or antibodies, as does colostrum in mammalian breast milk or has been shown for the saliva of swifts, but preliminary studies in falcons have concluded only saline is present. To see the saline dripping off the adult beak is difficult, even in person, but close observation might allow sharp-eyed, lucky, camera watchers to witness this phenomenon in some circumstances.

1 February 2012: As viewers already know, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge bald eagle egg# 1 was laid Dec 17, #2 followed on Dec 20, and #3 was laid Dec 23-24. The hatching of egg #1 on Jan 24, #2 on Jan 25-26, and #3 on Jan 29 was the result of the eagle's incubation process that started with the appearance of the second egg, at least to some degree (see below), rather than waiting until all eggs were laid before incubation commenced. (In the latter case, all eggs would hatch at the same time.)

Although the eagle's full incubation temperature is about 99.5F, keeping the eggs partially warm (well below 99.5F) during cold weather when they are laid, is necessary to keep each egg from freezing following its expulsion from the hen; freezing of eggs can happen usually in the mid to low 20's F. The female eagle prevents freezing by squatting over them, but does not go into full incubation posture (indicated by the contour feathers on her back being erect) with the eggs in full contact with her brood patch. Even while warmed at less than full incubation temperature, the embryos in the eggs will begin to develop during the first few days once laid. If full incubating temperature (99.5F) is not applied within about a week, the developing embryos die.

Determining exact incubation periods with precise hatching dates for birds can be somewhat difficult, especially during extremely cold weather when parents are on the nest continually (without rising) or when hatching occurs during night time. Bald eagles incubate for about 35 days before the chick breaks through with its egg tooth and lifts up a small portion of the shell, a process called pipping that allows the youngster to breath outside air for the first time. The chick will stay inside the shell and rest, following pip, for about 36-72 hours. Then it begins to rotate inside while cutting the shell in half with its egg tooth, a small projection on the top of the upper beak. The turning process varies in length of time to complete, but it usually takes between one half to two hours. Often, the incubating female will rise slightly and readjust herself when she feels the movements of the chick. The full incubation period will last approximately 35 days as exhibited by the time periods between laying dates and hatching dates recorded above. Some variation in development (age of chick inside the egg), however, can be a product of the difficulty in knowing exactly when full temperature incubation begins for each egg, and variation in position of egg (and its contact with brood patch) as it is tumbled about during incubation under the adult.

Since the embryos begin to develop when the adult female is warming the eggs, even though not fully incubating, staggered hatching of the chicks will result. This gives the first hatched chick a distinct advantage, with as much as five days growth over the third chick that has just hatched. While that seems minor, the first chick can consume a great deal of food during those early days, sometimes weighing nearly twice as much as the third chick at hatching. This allows the first chick to overpower the third chick, and even the second chick when competing for food from the feeding adult. Eventually as they grow, the third chick often continually loses out, getting little or no food during prey deliveries and feeding bouts from the parent. Plus, bald and some other eagle chicks have a tendency to commit siblicide when competing with fellow nest mates. This is thought to be a way of allowing for survival of the strongest chicks during periods of unpredictable food supplies. It is also true that many second and even third chick bald eagle nests fledge all the young, and a few instances of four young fledging from one nest have been recorded. We can watch the development of the chicks in this nest and see how they progress. Remember, we are only eavesdropping on their nest life and will not interfere with the progress of the eagles' natural reproduction and growth. 

29 January 2012: The third chick hatched this afternoon!

26 January 2012: There are now two chicks in the nest!

24 January 2012: The first eaglet has hatched!

23/24 December 2011: A third egg was laid.

21 December 2011: We plan to replace some hardware in the next few weeks that should improve the reliability of the Sooner Lake video.

20 December 2011: A second egg was laid in the Sequoyah nest.

17 December 2011: A first egg has been laid in the Sequoyah nest.

We have equipped two young Bald Eagles with satellite transmitters so we can follow their movements after fledging. Visit our tracking page at http://www.suttoncenter.org/pages/eagle_tracking or use the link to the left.

The Sutton Avian Research Center is dedicated to finding cooperative conservation solutions 
for birds and the natural world through science and education, and is a part of the Oklahoma Biological Survey at the University of Oklahoma.

Our Bald Eagle nest cam project provides an intimate view of wild Oklahoma Bald Eagle nests. Children and adults from Oklahoma and around the world can observe life in an eagle nest, and scientists can make observations that will help us better understand the life history of our national symbol.

Thank you to to our major eagle nest cam partners!

The video image may at times be unavailable due to technical problems or heavy user demand. We monitor the camera daily and try to keep it working, but outages do occur.

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