Fort St. Vrain, Colorado - Bald Eagle Cam

http://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/eagle.html
Click on the "View Live Video" link under the updating picture of the nest, then click "Eagle Cam" in the window that pops up - I haven't found a way to make a more direct link. The cam is solar-powered, so will be shut down from dusk to dawn to conserve power and 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 four-minute increments, so you can see what has happened in the previous 24 hours. They have a second camera which doesn't seem to be streaming very often, but has pictures in the archives, and have been trying to get sound to work as well - so keep your fingers crossed! The cam is often offline during the fall and winter, and is back online in February.

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. We are hoping for a better season this year.

Update - it appears that we have a new female this year, possibly a relatively young adult as there appear 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 great enough to see numbers on the bands.

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

2009-2010 Season:

• cam on: December 7
  
• eggs laid: February 14, ~6 pm; February 17, ~6 pm
  
• hatched: March 25, ~9:38 am (39 days); seen March 26, 7:50 am (37 days)
  
• fledged: by June 11 (77-78 days); they were branching on June 6, and not seen much by the 10th, so one or both may have fledged before the 11th.
  
• cam off: July 15; both were seen in the nest before the cam went off (~16 weeks old, ~5 weeks after fledging)
  

(Information from Xcel Energy and the BirdCam Forum)

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

Fort St. Vrain,

3:00 pm. MST,
Working the nest.


ETA: Direct link to camera side view: Fort St. Vrain

4:07 p.m., On the nest.

About 4:30 p.m. MST,


They had both been on the nest.

This nest is about 40 miles north of me and I am pleased to see that it is an active nest again.....I checked it out earlier and nothing was posted.....

Welcome to the thread, Donna!

The eagles do seem to be spending more time in the nest lately, so we're hoping they're on track for some eggs in the next few weeks.

And it's great to have someone from the area to join in the discussion - one can read about an area, but it's so much better to hear from someone who's been there!

Hi Donna, Great to have you here with us!

Another nice thing about the Fort St. Vrain cam site is their "Daily Pix" record:

http://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/eagle_day.asp?TOD=53

I've been observing the w va nest most of the day. checked the daily cam at this nest after dark.

It snowed over night. Snow melted by noon. There was much activity at this nest today.

1:20 to 2:00 1 then 2 eagles in the nest. They moved sticks around and stood looking in the bowl and out over the countryside.

2:00 to 3:00 both eagles remained in the nest....beaking, and moving bedding and sticks.

3:00 to 4:00 2 in the nest until 3:10 then 1. It laid down in the nest at 3:40 and continued to lay in the nest when the other eagle returned at 4:20 then flies out of the nest. both eagles are in the nest again until dark at about 5:30.

I am excited that there is a pair of nesting eagles here for the 2010 season...I look for eggs here soon as the other nesting pairs in this area seem to begin around this time of the year....