Bald eagle Harriet’s new eaglet hatches
FORT MYERS, Fla. – One bald eaglet hatched, and a second was in the process at a famous eagle nest in Florida.
About 12,000 people watched online Tuesday morning when an eaglet known as E10 broke through its eggshell. The tiny gray bird rested in the warmth of the nest, alongside a second egg and under one of the parents.
The eggs are the offspring of Harriet, a bald eagle who has been in the spotlight for six years after an “eagle cam” was placed above her nest in North Fort Myers, Fla.
The second egg started cracking Tuesday afternoon, and its occupant will be known as E11.
The lives of these eaglets and their parents, Harriet and M15, will be streamed online for the next several months as the eaglets, should they survive, grow from tiny little fluffs to full grown but unskilled juveniles.
Harriet and M15 are broadcast on the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam.
The series started with Ozzie and Harriet, a longtime North Fort Myers pair that may have started breeding as early as the 1990s, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records.
Ozzie died after a series of fights with Harriet’s new mate, M15.
Over the years, the eagles and eaglets in this nest have been entangled in fishing line, attacked by great horned owls and entrenched in a love triangle.
E10 made its first appearance around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, said Virginia “Ginnie” Pritchet McSpadden, whose family owns the land where the eagles live and operates the stream camera system. E10 hatched at 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to dickpritchettrealestate.com, where the eagle cam can be found.
Thousands of comments have been written on the eagle cam’s Facebook page.
“This is as good as gifts being opened on Christmas morning! It’s new life! Another one of God’s great gifts,” Bonnie Newman wrote. “Thank you to all our wonderful friends who keep watch and keep us informed of all the happenings.”
Other viewers were happy to see the eggs hatching as well.
“This is so exciting! I saw what I thought was a pip on egg 2 this afternoon but was not sure ... it looked like a tiny beak trying to push a hole in the shell,” Karen Highfield wrote. A pip is when an eaglet starts to break the shell. It can take two to 48 hours for the tiny birds to fully hatch.