Eagle Nesting Season Begins

 

Bald eagles throughout New Jersey are preparing for the 2026 nesting season. In NJ, eagle pairs lay eggs anywhere from January through March, with the bulk of incubation starting in February. 

The Duke Farms eagle pair is spending a lot of time at that nest, rearranging sticks. conservewildlifenj.org , in collaboration with Duke Farms, features an Eagle Cam to raise awareness about nesting bald eagles in New Jersey. (also check out their osprey and falcon webcams)

Bald Eagles are extremely sensitive to human disturbance. At no time should anyone approach nesting eagles. People who want to observe or photograph eagles and who come too close may actually cause the birds to abandon a nest. 

Located on Duke Farms in central New Jersey, the Eagle Cam allows viewers an up-close and personal view into the lives of a pair of bald eagles as they breed, incubate, and raise young. 

During last year's nesting season, incubation was confirmed on January 18 with three eggs. 1st egg hatched: February 25th, 6:32am: banded H58, Female; fledged 5/17/25. 2nd egg hatched: February 27th, 12:41 am: banded H59 Female; fledged 5/26/25. 3rd egg hatched: February 28th, 3:53 pm: banded H57 Male; fledged 5/23/25

WATCH THE EAGLE CAM LIVE via YOUTUBE

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

Does a Love Triangle Mean No New Bald Eagles at Duke Farms This Year?

In a page from a TV soap opera, two competing female bald eagles at Duke Farms resulted in a season with no eggs and no new eagles for the first time in 11 years.

A story on NJ.com tells of how this February a young female bald eagle started moving in on and trying to replace the current resident female eagle.

The nest has been quite productive in the past. Between 2005 and 2016, it produced 23 bald eagle chicks that were given tracking bands on the chicks when they were approximately five to six weeks old.

That rival female appeared just in time to interrupt the resident couple's mating behavior of courting, bonding and copulation.

And next year? 

The parenting couple are still around the nest and there is a good chance that they will nest in the area and breed next year. The nest was knocked down during Hurricane Sandy and rebuilt by the eagles who like the location on the Raritan River.

From the Eagle Cam at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, NJ.
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