They star on Duke Farms web cam
By Jennifer Kohlhepp, Staff Writer
Three bald eagle chicks have hatched in the Duke Farms nest that’s constantly on view to the world via the Internet.
The third egg hatched April 1. It was reported smaller than the other two who hatched on two days earlier.
Parents are starting to leave food, such as fish and waterfowl, to give the nesting parent and young food.
Maria Grace, education and outreach manager at Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, said bald eagle have rebounded dramatically from dwindling numbers 50 years ago.
Both the male and female build the nest, but the female chooses the nest tree. Both will defend the nest territory which is usually several square miles, depending on the habitat and the proximity of other nesting eagles, according to Ms. Grace.
The female will lay one to three (usually two) eggs two to three days apart. The eggs are about 3 inches long and are an off-white color. Incubation is done by both parents and lasts about 35 days, according to Ms. Grace.
The young will stay in the nest about 11 to 12 weeks when the adults will start encouraging them to fly. The eaglets can often be seen exercising their wings in the nest or on a nearby branch several days prior to fledging (taking their first flight from the nest), according to Ms. Grace.
The young will stay at or near the nest for the next six weeks while the adults continue to feed them and teach them to hunt and fish on their own. Young eagles are believed to return within 100 miles or so of their own nest site when they reach maturity and are ready to mate, according to Ms. Grace.
The bald eagle was listed on the federal endangered species list until 2007.
”Bald eagles represent a really great success story when talking about the history of endangered species,” Ms. Grace said.
In the early 1900s the population began to decline. The situation worsened with the widespread use of the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) between 1939 and 1962.
”DDT pushed them to the brink of extinction,” Ms. Grace said.
DDT prevented the eagles’ eggshells from hardening and they would get crushed under the weight of the adults during the incubation process, according to Ms. Grace.
Two things happened in the 1970s that would eventually help the species get back on its feet — the use of DDT was banned in 1972 and the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973.
”New Jersey was the first state to sign the Endangered Species Act into law, even before (President Richard) Nixon signed it,” Ms. Grace said. “These things, combined with restoration and management, brought the eagles back from (near-) extinction.”
In 1982, New Jersey had one eagle nest that failed year after year until environmentalists removed the eggs from the nest and replaced them with fake eggs. They incubated the eggs under chickens, which weighed less than the adult eagles, and returned the eaglets to the nest so the parents could take care of them.
”In 1989, the female finally laid her own eggs and incubated them,” Ms. Grace said, adding that a second nest was discovered in New Jersey in 1988.
The state also brought eaglets in from Canada from 1983-1990 and placed them in the salt marshes of the Delaware Bay where they crated them for a soft release into the wild.
”They released 60 eagles during that time,” Ms. Grace said.
Last year, the state was home to 148 eagle pairs.
A live look at the Duke Farms eagles can be seen at www.dukefarms.org/en/Stewardship/WildlifeCams/eagle-cam/.
”Watch the eagle cam because it’s really fun,” Ms. Grace said. The site has had more than 8.7 million views over the years.
Now that new eagle pairs are popping up in New Jersey, with 14 new pairs identified in 2013, Ms. Grace said, the question is should the state continue monitoring them.
While contamination from pesticides is still an issue for the eagle population in New Jersey, Ms. Grace said the biggest threat to the raptors is “collisions with human stuff,” such as cars and high-tension wires.

