HHI Eagle Cam
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The nest on the Eagle cam is located on private property in an undisclosed area. Eagles can be quite sensitive to human activity while nesting and the nest tree is on private property. This is believed to be at least the 13th season for this pair of eagles. During the 2023-2024 nesting season, the eagles had three eggs with two eaglets fledging.
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Reminder to Viewers:
Just as we experienced with Harriet and Mitch, we are viewing a wild eagle nest. While we hope that all eggs hatch and grow to be healthy and successful fledges each season, things like sibling rivalry, predators, illness, natural disasters as well as territorial disputes can affect wildlife. Nature may be difficult to watch.
About seeing the nest at night: We have an IR camera using infrared lighting that is imperceptible to the eagles. If you were to visit the nest site in person at night, it would look completely dark.
This Cam does not interfere or intervene and allows nature to take its course. This live stream is intended to educate the viewers by showing nature in an unguarded fashion. You will see nature at its best, and possibly its worst. You will see life being started and sustained, in very natural ways. It is nature at her finest.
Rules of the site: Keep your comments focused on the topic at hand. Be polite and remember the "Golden Rule." No spamming, baiting or trolling. Comments can be removed at the discretion of the moderators and Hilton Head Island Land Trust. If someone writes something you don't like, NEVER engage them. Content that falls under the following is subject to immediate removal: Profane, defamatory, offensive or violent language; attacks on specific groups or any comments meant to harass, threaten or abuse an individual; hateful or discriminatory comments; commercial solicitations; content determined to be inappropriate in poor taste, or otherwise contrary to the purposes of this community.
Haven’t seen the eagle 🦅 🦅couple yet…
Thank you for your help. Will it come up automatically when I visit the website again? I love watching these cams!
Is the nest currently active? I've checked the camera several times at different times of the day/evening for at least a week or so and have yet to see anything but an empty nest :(
We may experience some outages this afternoon as we work on connectivity of the cameras and streaming.
Hi everyone. A few people have asked about being able to change your display name and photo. There's now a drop down to the right above the comments section where you can log in, log out, and edit your name and photo. By default, all profiles are private at this time. Please let me know if you have any questions.
I have followed this nest for years and compiled data which I have shared with this site monitor. Here is some additional timeline info SPECIFIC to this nest based on years of observations. It is not the same timeline as Florida nests.
For those who were on my email update list for years, yes, this is the same nest that now has a camera. However, as clearly stated, it is on private property and for the good of both the eagles and the property owners, the location remains unshared.
Hope this timeline helps you understand what happens. Carol C.
Eagles
I. General info on Eagles
a. Males are smaller than females weighing about 10 lbs. The females are about 14 lbs.
b. Wingspans: Male-about 6 feet; female 6.5 to 7 feet
c. Diet: fish, snakes, small mammals, other birds
d. Eagles do not migrate, but travel only as far as needed to find sufficient food
e. Often remain in their “territory” of 1 to 6 square miles if there is enough food
II. The Nest
a. Return to same nest each year (On HH, they return in the fall.)
b. Nest is made of interwoven sticks and lined with grass etc.
c. Average 4 – 6 feet in diameter and 2 – 4 feet deep
d. Placed in trees near the foraging area (water); nearly 80% of nests are in live pine trees, but others in live cypress trees or dead trees.
e. Start building/repairing nest about 1 – 3 months before breeding and this building is considered part of the nesting cycle
f. Normally repair/enlarge the nest up to 1 foot each year
III. Breeding and Egg laying
a. Aerial breeding takes place in November/December
b. Eggs are laid 5 to 10 days after mating (On HH eggs laid in December.)
c. Usually lay 1 – 3 eggs; eggs are about 3x2 inches and are off-white in color
d. Eggs are normally laid 1 per day and separated by 1 – 2 days
e. Eggs are incubated by both adults for about 5 weeks (On HH, eggs hatch sometime in January or very early February.)
IV. The young eagles
a. About 5 weeks after the eggs are laid, hatching occurs.
b. The young are born with fluffy down, so they look white. At about 10 days, the down is replaced by a darker one. Dark feathers develop at abut 24 days. Over the next 4-5 years, they develop the white head, white tail, etc.
c. Adults tear up fish and feed it to them. Young swallow the fish pieces whole. males do most of the fishing and often eat the head of the fish themselves and bring the rest to the female to feed the young.
d. The young remain in the nest about 10 – 12 weeks after hatching (On HH, they usually are in the nest until sometime in April.)
e. They take their first tentative flights at about 10 – 12 weeks (On HH, late March/sometime in April)
f. Even after their first flights, the young remain in the area around the nest for another 4 weeks and are still dependent on the adults for food. (On HH, this means they are around the nest until sometime in April or May.)
g. It takes 4 – 5 years for the youngsters to get their white head…an indication that they have reached sexual maturity.
V. The entire cycle takes about 7 months on HHI:
a. Eagles return to the nest and start to repair/build. (October/November)
b. Mating occurs (November/December)
c. Eggs laid (December)
d. Eggs hatch (Jan-early Feb)
e. Young in the nest (until about April)
f. First flight (March/April)
g. Leave nest (late April – early June)
VI. General info: a. Once they fledge, the young will spend the next 4 – 5 years maturing and looking for a good place to live. There is over a 50% mortality rate for young eagles in the first year. After that, their survival rate is good.
b. At 4 or 5 years of age they find a good spot to nest and find a mate. This is usually within 250 miles of where they were born. The first year, the nest is not usually productive, though.
VII. Sources: http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/baldeagle/biology.html
https://www.eagles.org/what-we-do/educate/learn-about-%20%20%20eagles/bald-eaglets/#toggle-id-7
https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Region_5/NWRS/Central_Zone/Montezuma/EagleFacts.pdf
Found nuts in the nest to snack on....
Huge Thank You to Meadow for agreeing to be a Moderator again this year! If anyone else wants to join the team, please let me know.
Great capture of flying squirrel by Rambler tonight
Flying squirrel enjoying the nest tonight.