Fort St. Vrain, Colorado - Bald Eagle Cam

http://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/eagle.html
Click on the blue bar that reads: Fort St. Vrain Eagle Cam. The cam is solar-powered, so might be a bit uncertain on very dark days. They also have issues with their video from time to time. There are photos for the day saved in ten-minute increments, so you can see what has happened in the previous 24 hours. There is an overhead cam that can be found here: birdcam.xcelenergy.com/EagleCam/bird.jpg There is night vision this year on both cams. The cams seem to stay on for varying periods of time after 10:00p.m. at night. They usually are on by 8:15 a.m. They are hoping to bring on sound as well- so keep your fingers crossed! The cam is sometimes offline during the fall and winter.

This nest is at Xcel Energy's Fort St. Vrain Power Station in Platteville, Colorado. Local time is Mountain time. The nest is 6 feet wide and 5 feet deep, and has been active for years. The camera was installed in 2003. This pair successfully raised 3 chicks in 2008, 2 chicks in 2007, 3 in 2006, and 2 in most of the previous years that they've been watched. The nest failed quite tragically in 2009, when their three eggs hatched in late March, but all three chicks died April 17; apparently one of the parents was lost or incapacitated around April 14, and the remaining parent wasn't able to keep the eaglets warm and fed during a bad wind/rain/snow storm; a second adult was seen shortly thereafter, leading to speculation that one of the adults might have eaten a poisoned prairie dog and been unable to function for a few days.

There was speculation that there was a new female in 2010, possibly a relatively young adult as there appeared to be a few brown feathers remaining in her head. The male appears to be the same as last year, though it is hard to tell. Both eagles are banded, but the cam resolution isn't strong enough to see numbers on the bands. The pair successfully raised two eaglets in 2010.

Based past experience for this pair, look for eggs in the first half of March, chicks in mid-April, and fledging in early July.

2010-2011 Season:

• cam on: October 8
  
• eggs laid: seen February 16, 8:00 am; February 19, 5:27 pm; February 23, about 4:00 pm
  
• hatched: March 28, 6:45 am (Scout); March 31 (Glory), Third egg did not hatch.
  
• fledged: Scout fledged on 6/16; Glory fledged on 6/18 (about 11-1/2 weeks old)
  
• last seen on cam: both, July 26; one, July 29 (about 17 weeks old)
  
• cam off:

Link to wonderful week-by-week summary of the 2011 nesting season, compiled by golden1



(Information from Xcel Energy and the BirdCam Forum;
2010 s'caps by golden1 - and yes, that is snow in the first one)

Link to last year's thread for the Fort St. Vrain bald eagle cam

(Reserved)

The still camera is up as of 10 am this morning
http://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/eagle.html

Jannice aka Kittenface

At the moment the nest is empty!! Hopefully we will see Mom and Dad soon

Wonderful news - thanks, Jannice and Debs!

This is great news. ANd it is also a night cam. Does not look like there are any pics saved, but this is great for the "off season" .

Oct 9......I stand corrected there are also daily pics.

Thank you Jannice.

Hi All,

"Xcel"-lent night camera.

Here is news from Raptor Resource from Greeley Joe.

"It'll probably be off and on...we are working on it. We'll be changing servers and trying to add sound and night cameras and get a bigger picture on the internet~so keep your fingers crossed. Still have some interference from a local radio station -that's causing the diagonal lines, blurriness, and such." Oct 8, 2010

So it is a work in progress. I wished many times that I could hear the eagles at this nest, especially when the eaglets were in the first 2 or 3 weeks. I have my talons crossed and my patience turned up. Good news