Tragedy Strikes Bald Eagle Nest in West Virginia, But There’s Hope

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The general public loves to follow along with breeding pairs of bald eagles as they raise their young. One bald-eagle nest cam in West Virginia was following a family of five living in a large sycamore tree at the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) when the unthinkable happened. Strong winds blew the nest away from where it had rested for over two decades, subjecting the four-week-old eaglets to a 90-foot fall.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) reports in an Instagram post that the eaglets did not survive. However, the adult eagles (Bella and Scout) did survive. They are now attempting to rebuild a nest lower in the same sycamore tree, and officials are hopeful that they will be able to raise a family there next year.

“After 22 years, the bald eagle’s nest at the USFWS National Conservation Training Center is gone,” wrote NCTC. “On April 19, at 10:00 pm a sudden windstorm blew the big nest from the top of its sycamore tree home.”

A nest cam has been monitoring the nest site since 2005. NCTC says it “developed a large online following across North America and around the world, including many K-12 school classrooms.” While nest cams are wonderful for accessing nature from the comfort of home, they also sometimes subject viewers to the sad parts of life in the wild.

See two social media posts explaining the situation with the bald eagle nest in West Virginia:

Header image by BirdImages via Getty

Source: https://outdoors.com/tragedy-strikes-bald-eagle-nest-in-west-virginia-but-theres-hope/