Berry adds free viewing scope to eagle amenities
Berry College has added a new viewing scope to the amenities it provides for people who love to watch the college’s famous pair of bald eagles which nest behind the Cage Center.
The viewing scope was placed in the corner of the parking lot amongst several of the Viking Furniture Adirondack chairs and is ready for the seasonal return of the eagles in another month or so.
Eddie Elsberry, director of sustainability at Berry, said the scope was purchased with funds generated by the B3 Branch Buddies, a Facebook group of people who are regular viewers of the nest on the Berry College Eaglecam.
He said approximately $3,000 in donations came in after one of the eaglets fell out of the nest and died when it was 10 days old during the past winter nesting season.
The scope is a SeaCoast Mark 2 model manufactured in Fairhope, Alabama. Similar to a pair of binoculars, it is designed for durability and minimal maintenance. It is marketed solely as a free device and features a ten times magnification.
The model has been endorsed by the U.S. Department of the Interior and is in use at a number of national parks. It is also used by the Audubon Society in a number of nature preserves and wildlife refuges.
The Berry eagles typically return to the nest on a somewhat regular basis in late September, adding sticks to the outer bowl of the nest and bringing more pine straw in for bedding. Over the last six winters they have laid 12 eggs, 11 have hatched successfully and 10 have actually survived to fly from the nest.