Eaglet dies after DNR's EagleCam nest falls out of tree
MINNEAPOLIS -- The eaglet who hatched on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' EagleCam livestream last week has died after its nest fell from its tree Sunday morning.
"It's a very sad day," said Lori Naumann, one of the people behind the Minnesota DNR EagleCam since its installation 10 years ago.
The nest has been there 10 years before the EagleCam was put up. It started being built in 2003, and has been growing in size every year. The eagle family that lived there has been growing, too.
Just last week, the camera gave the world a window into the hatching of an eagle chick, and thousands have been glued to the live stream ever since.
"We have feared for a few years that that tree was not going to hold that nest forever," Naumann said.
Just before 8 a.m. on Sunday, viewers watch in real time as the nest with the chick inside of it fell.
"The nest is 100 feet in the air, so that tumble, for a chick that was only 1 week old…it was probably not going to make it," she said.
There were three things that led the nest to fall: It weighed 2,000 pounds; it was sitting in a dead tree; and it impacted by all the heavy snow that fell recently.
"The nest bowl itself was the size of a huge…bass drum, and it was solid ice and very heavy," she said.
Naumann says there are dozens of other active eagles nests in the state right now, but since its nesting season, they will not disturb any of them for several months.
"We need the right conditions such as electricity, we need to be able to drive a bucket truck right up underneath, and there are things to consider such as land ownership," she said.
It could be awhile until we see another Minnesota DNR EagleCam back up and running, but the DNR says they will keep the current one turned on in case the eagle parents return and rebuild.
You can watch the livestream below.