Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Spring at the Duke Farms' Eagle Cam




Eagle cam at Duke Farms in Hillsborough. Alexis Johnson speaks with Executive Director Michael Catania.


An "Eagle Cam," like the one at Duke Farms, is the only way most of us will get a close up view of a wild eagle's nest. The coming of spring means eggs and eaglets - hopefully!

The Duke Farms live webcam in Somerset County has been active for 10 years. It has had 13 million viewers who have seen an unfiltered view of eagle life.

There are two eggs there that will likely hatch within the next few weeks.

According to Michael Catania, you are likely to see the eagles bring in food at some point and hat might be fish, turtles, even a young fawn. The action isn't always cute or tame. The Eagle Cam once caught a red tail hawk landing on the nest just as the chicks were hatching and in a flash that hawk became the first meal for those chicks.

In the past decade, 23 chicks have been raised and fledged from the nest. Last year was a year without eggs, so things look more hopeful for 2018.

The first egg this year was laid on Valentine's Day with a second coming three days later.

New Jersey now has about 170 active nests, and in 2007 bald eagles were removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species.

The eggs are expected to hatch between March 21 and March 24.


Live Eagle Cam view

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