It’s an amazing reality show — a live-streaming video of a pair of bald eagles nesting in a huge aerie atop a tall loblolly pine on the sprawling Berry College campus near Rome.
Through a camera that peers round-the-clock into the nest, people can watch continuously as the eagles feed themselves, perform housekeeping tasks and tend a baby eaglet that hatched two weeks ago.
The live stream (http://www.berry.edu/eaglecam/) offers a “unique window” into the life of America’s national symbol, said Jim Ozier, head of the non-game section of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources.
“It is a wonderful soap opera,” said my friend Linda Hodges of Marietta. She and I agree that watching the eagles is nearly addicting.
There’s plenty of drama. The other day I watched a great horned owl swoop down on the nest in a futile effort to snatch one of the eagles’ two eggs, which were laid in mid-January. The female eagle stood her ground.
Also fascinating is witnessing the eagles return from hunting trips with food for the day in their talons — fish, coots, small mammals and other meaty pickings. Remains of the eagles’ meals can be seen lying around their nest.
As I write this column, I’m watching the mother pull apart a freshly caught coot (a medium-size bird that lives on or near water) and feed small pieces to her baby.
The fluffy eaglet was born on Feb. 22. There won’t be anymore this season, though, because the second egg was a dud.
Even the non-viable egg provided drama this week. The eagle pair apparently disagreed on how to get rid of it. The male buried the bad egg under some material in the nest, but a little later the female dug it up and resumed trying to incubate it.
Her maternal instincts apparently were so strong that she wasn’t giving up. At the time of this writing earlier this week, she was still sitting on the egg as well as caring for her baby. When she will give up on the egg remained to be seen.
Biologists found the nest in 2012 near a campus parking lot when they spotted an eagle carrying sticks to it. Last spring, two baby eaglets successfully fledged from it. The school this season added the small camera that monitors the nest.
“Our 6-year-old grandson watches it with me sometimes; he says he feels like he’s right in the nest with the eagles,” Hodges said.
IN THE SKY: The moon is first quarter Saturday, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Mercury is low in the east just before dawn. Venus rises out of the east about three hours before sunrise. Mars rises out of the east a few hours after sunset. Jupiter is high in the south at dusk and will appear near the moon on Sunday night. Saturn rises out of the east before midnight.
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