Alcoa Davenport's Bald Eagle Nest

Winter is Back --- For At Least a Day

The heavy wet snow that fell overnight has turned the nest and the Quad Cities into a winter wonderland. We got about 3-4 inches here and most of it will likely be gone over the weekend. Temperatures are supposed to be back up into the mid to upper 40's on Sunday. It was good to see Liberty shake herself off earlier and now she and Justice are back into their egg-duty rotation.

Join The Conversation

We will continue to run the blog and longer comment posting on this page, but if you would like to "tweet" you can do that and by including the hashtag #alcoaeaglecam you can now follow that conversation just below the EagleCam video window in our Twitter widget.

Dedication on Display

Now that the eggs are in the nest, the real grind of tending to them for 35 days or so is underway. It is impressive to watch the dedication of a pair of eagles as they care for and protect the eggs in the nest for more than a month. We are forecast to have some rain and snow a couple of times over the next week, but Liberty and Justice will stay put no matter what conditions they face.

Getting Crowded

Liberty delivered her third egg of the season this afternoon about 4:40pm (central). A short time later both she and Justice were in the nest admiring the three eggs before settling in on top of them again.

Warmer Weather Returns

The next week or so looks to have daytime highs in the upper 30's to the low 40's here in the Quad Cities. There is some rain expected this afternoon/evening, but overall not a bad stretch as Liberty and Justice take turns incubating their eggs. It will be interesting to see if we get one more egg or if this is our full nest for the year. We appreciate all of you watching and your comments.

Valentine Egg!

Egg number two appeared this afternoon just after 1:30pm central time. That is almost exactly three days after egg number one which is what she did last year. No way to know if there will be another egg, but we will keep watching!

Eagles Know Best

We see lots of comments expressing concerns when the eagles leave the egg unattended from time to time. It seems the eagles know what they ae doing. Liberty and Justice left the eggs a number of times last year too. They never seem to leave for too long, it will range from a few minutes up to 15 or 20 minutes.

Still looking for egg number two!

Looking For Another Egg

Most of the chat over the weekend was about the egg and when/how many more there might be. Last year this pair had two eggs. Both hatched and only one of the eaglets survived. The first egg last year was on the 17th of February and the second appeared on the 20th. The year before we did not have the camera in place, but they fledged two eaglets in 2010.

First Egg Has Arrived

This afternoon just before 3pm central time Liberty laid her first egg of the season. She picked our coldest weekend in quite a while, but the weather is expected to begin warming again this week. This is six days earlier than when the first egg appeared last year. Based on the average 35 days incubation, we could see the eggs hatching arounf the 17th or 18th of March. With an egg in the nest we now have the ability to watch Liberty or Justice tending to the egg 24/7.

Just a Few Days Away?

Thanks to one of our regular viewers, Elferuler, we know that Liberty and Justice copulated Monday. He has posted the video to YouTube. That could mean we will see egg(s) in the nest in the next week to ten days.

More Activity

Both Liberty and Justice seem to be spending more and more time in and around the nest. Late this afternoon Liberty was testing out the nest for a while then jumped up to the branch near the camera. She spent a bit of time staring into the camera, then quite a bit of time ignoring the camera. Last year the eggs arrived between the 17th and 20th of February. I hope our warmer winter weather does not mess up their timing.