New eagle camera is going live in Minnesota to the delight of global viewers

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Eagle lovers around the world who were crushed by the live-streamed collapse of a nest housing two birds and their chick will get another viewing opportunity when a new eagle camera goes live on Thursday.

The new camera, operated by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, is in a different location and will show a different nesting pair, the agency announced Tuesday. But the DNR will also keep its old EagleCam running because the old pair built a new nest about a half-mile away and still visit their old territory. They’ve been seen there as recently as Friday.

The old camera had viewers in 50 states and around 160 countries, in homes, classrooms and nursing homes, according to Lori Naumann, a spokesperson for the DNR’s Nongame Wildlife Program, which runs the cameras. The old nest was home to a pair that viewers unofficially nicknamed “Nancy and Beau” until it collapsed during a heavy snowstorm on April 2, 2023. The female bird flew off as a branch supporting the 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) nest, which was over 20 years old, gave way. The chick was later found dead.

There was an outpouring of grief in popular Facebook groups that followed the pair, and members of those groups expressed excitement at the news Tuesday.

Naumann told reporters they often had thousands of viewers at any given time before the nest collapse, especially during the pandemic as homebound viewers went online to get their nature fixes. Minnesota has the largest eagle population in the lower 48 states, building nests even in urban areas.

The pair at the new, undisclosed location has nested there for at least four years and has reared several broods of eaglets, Naumann said. Officials aren’t sure exactly how long the nest has been there or how many chicks the parents have hatched because they haven’t followed them closely yet, she said.

Both cameras will go live around 6 a.m. CST Thursday on the DNR website and on the agency’s YouTube channel.

There isn’t a lot of activity at the nest at the moment, though that will change, Naumann said.

“It’s not really breeding season right now,” she said. “We expect them to start bringing new branches and new nesting material into the nest over the next several months, when their courtship behavior will start ramping up. And when that happens, they actively build the nest together, showing their dedication to each other and their worthiness of being a partner.”

The female is expected to lay two or three eggs sometime around February, she said, and they’ll take about 35 days to hatch. Both adults typically care for their chicks, constantly bringing them dead fish to satisfy their enormous appetites.

As for “Nancy and Beau” — the DNR doesn’t name the animals it follows — it wasn’t feasible to run power to and install a camera at their new nest, where they successfully raised two chicks last season. So the agency launched an extensive search before settling on the new, more accessible location with a healthy tree. They installed the camera in early October at a total cost of about $5,000. Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy provided the bucket lift truck and other services to set up the new camera at no charge, as it did with the original.

The eagles serve as ambassadors for the Nongame Wildlife Program, which is supported by direct donations and a voluntary checkoff on the state’s personal income tax form. It funds a range of wildlife projects across the state to benefit struggling species. The cameras are going live on Thursday to leverage a statewide charity event, although as a government agency the DNR isn’t an official participant.