Summary
Current status – After eleven successful seasons, 21 fledged eaglets have left the Police Academy nest! Their new nest is in a Sycamore on the bank of their favorite hunting water Oxen Cove. It is not unusual for Bald Eagles to move on after a stretch at one eyrie.
We have shut down the police academy nest cam and are working with the National Park Service biologists to assess the feasibility of a placing camera at the new nest. Our plan is to monitor the bird the old fashioned way – from a distance with our spotting scopes and if all seems right install a camera in the late fall. We cannot risk disturbing the nest when the eagles have vacated the area. Meanwhile, we are bring in a renewed focus to our long term goal of restoring Oxen Cove and the surround parkland.
Challenge – We thank our very committed citizen scientists eagle camera community who have invested hours of time monitoring Liberty and Justice. We will have a need for a few on the ground monitors soon. Our hope is to have a regular nest monitor watching the nesting season. Using a scope and binoculars we will continue the study of Liberty. We will report on our social media platforms through the nesting season.
Our most import goal for this year is organizing restoration work on Oxen Cove at a safe distance from the nest.
Opportunity – ECC puts out a call for volunteers to the eagle camera community asking for monitors. Volunteers can join the ECC staff person at their set time of observation or they can come out on other days increasing the observations and ability to collect more data.