Nest History

2013

In 2013, the first year we watched this nest, the pair named Mr and Mrs Honeycomb by the folks at Pretty Estate laid two eggs four days apart (three days between eggs is more common), and they began incubating full-time immediately, so the eggs hatched four days apart – which proved too great a challenge for younger chick Bogey as the much bigger Birdie was getting all the food; Bogey died when he or she was a little over 3 weeks old.  Birdie fledged successfully, and didn’t return to the nest until four days later; he/she made a final visit to the nest a few days later. Observers reported that the adults did not spend much time in the nest before the eggs were laid, and David Hancock noted that they seemed to be following the pattern of wilderness eagles, who only use the nest for raising young, rather than the more urban eagles we observe on many cams, who eat and mate at the nest before laying eggs, and use them as feeding platforms for the eaglets once they fledge.

2014-2017

The pair only laid one egg in 2014, and it didn’t hatch.  2015 was better – as in 2013, the pair laid two eggs four days apart, and Driver and Putter hatched four days apart. There were a few days when we held our breath as the older chick hit her growth spurt and food deliveries seemed down – but happily they picked up again in time to help the younger chick catch up – and both fledged successfully, four days apart.  The pair again laid two eggs four days apart in 2016, and Sandy and Piper hatched four days apart; there didn’t seem to be any rivalry, but Piper failed to thrive and died at 3 days old; Sandy fledged successfully.  2017 was another challenging year – there was an intruder in the area while they were incubating, but they were able to protect the nest and Bunker and Divot hatched just a day and a half apart.  Things went fairly smoothly for the first five weeks – then the male disappeared, and people in the area reported seeing an aerial fight in which at least one adult may have been injured.  The male returned to the nest briefly 10 days later (he had a distinctive stripe on one of his tail feathers so we know it was him), but that was the last time we saw him.  The female was able to provide for her growing chicks, and both fledged successfully.  As the 2018 nesting season begins, the female is back, and we’ve seen at least one other adult in the area who seems to be spending a lot of time with her.  And while we’d all love to see the male we’ve watched these past five years return, we’ll be happy with a peaceful, productive nesting season with whoever the female chooses.

2018-2021

Mrs Honeycomb returned to the nest in the fall of 2017, but it was not until March 11 that we saw the new male she had been spending time with come to the nest.  Fortunately they worked quickly fixing up the nest, and laid one egg on April 15 (almost 2 weeks later than usual).  The egg hatched and Chips seemed lively and healthy, but died overnight 10 days later, on May 29.  As often happens when an eaglet dies, Mrs Honeycomb consumed the remains on May 30, and the last time we saw her on the nest was May 31, 2018.  The new male continued to work on the nest, and on June 18 he brought a new partner to the nest.  They both visited regularly through the summer, and in the fall of 2018, Betty Anne from Pretty Estates (who gives the eagles there golf-related names) named them Duffer (M) and Dimple (F), or Mr and Mrs D for short.  The pair did quite a bit of work on the nest in 2019, but did not produce any eggs.  Heading into the 2020 nesting season, the nest was looking even better than last year – and we hoped for eggs, but that didn’t happen. 2021 was a repeat of 2020.  Maybe 2022….

2022

2022 was a hard year.  Mom Dimple laid what we think was her first egg ever on April 10 – we were thrilled!  And then we were surprised that Duffer didn’t come in to help incubate (he had been an active partner with Mrs Honeycomb in 2018, his first year at the nest).  And on April 12 we saw that he had been injured, with quite a bit of blood visible on the side of his neck.  He seemed generally healthy, but acted as if there was still an intruder around, and was focused on defending the territory.  He won the fight, but never did get back into nesting mode. Dimple did a great job incubating almost around the clock – but she did need to leave the nest to find food and get some exercise, so the eggs were uncovered more than usual, and did not hatch.  The South cam had gone offline in 2021, and the North cam was off for much of June, so we don’t know how long Dimple continued to incubate.  When the cam started working again in early July, the eggs were gone and both adults were working on the nest.  The cam was also down for a while in August; since it came back online on August 23, both adults have been visiting the nest regularly and working together to prepare it for next year.  This makes me very optimistic that they will be successful in 2023 – but did not give us any opportunity to try to replace the non-functioning cam.

2023

As of September 2022, both eagles were together and busily preparing their nest for next year – and were still getting it ready when the remaining cam went offline permanently in March 2023.  An observer visited the nest in May and said the eagles did not appear to be using the nest where the cams are; we don’t know if Dimple laid any eggs, or any other details.  Happily, thanks to support from the Sandpiper Resort, we were able to install new cams in the fall of 2023, and we again have our fingers crossed that we’ll finally see eaglets here.

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