Everything looking up for new Minnesota DNR EagleCam eaglet
WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. -- It's peak hatching season for bald eagles. Minnesota's DNR EagleCam just captured the first eaglet of the year over the weekend.
"People all across the world are watching it," said Lori Naumann with the DNR Nongame Wildlife Program.
Naumann runs the EagleCam and says the egg hatched on Sunday.
"This particular female laid two eggs this year and unfortunately she might have slipped and punctured one of the eggs early on," Naumann.
But, this increased the chance of survival for the eaglet, Naumann said, which is 50% from hatching to flying from the nest in July.
"Another threat to chicks, is another chick. There's sibling rivalry, if there's food scarcity they start beating each other up it can get pretty brutal," Naumann.
Naumann says our snowy winter hasn't hurt the eagle population.
"They are acclimated to this kind of weather and they do really well," Naumann.
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Their resiliency was captured on camera in February as a nesting mother was covered to her head in snow. The DNR says we can help keep the bald eagle population soaring by avoiding rodent poison and lead ammunition.
"We've had bald eagles run into sides of buildings and usually it's because they have neurological damage from some sort of toxin and usually it's lead," she said.
For the new eaglet, everything so far is looking up.
"We're doing pretty well and if it makes it to fledging all the better!" she said.
The Minnesota DNR EagleCam is in its tenth year. The female eagle there now has been nesting there for four years.
You can watch the EagleCam anytime via the livestream below.
