Hornby Island Bald Eagle Nest Fails

Unfortunately, the Hancock House bald eagle cam isn't online due to the failure of the Hornby Island nest. I haven't been able to visit the site this past week and now the page with the nest failure summary isn't loading. Reading the forum comments I can put together that the nesting attempt failed likely due to infertile eggs that apparently over time during the incubation, dehydrated and the eggs eventually collapsed (broke) under the weight of the incubating adults. Once that happened, the adults removed the shell fragments and cleaned the nest as they would after a normal hatch, to remove traces that could attract predators to a nest with young chicks. As the adults realized there were no chicks, they left the nest and are no longer tending the nest.

There is another eagle cam coming on line soon at the above link. Also a notice for a Grizzly Cam. Don't know what that will entail, but I'll probably check it out.

Bummer about the nest failure, but it happens. Egg shell thinning is still an issue also for eagles, hawks and falcons. Pesticides such as DDT are not used in the U.S. (or not supposed to be anyway, since it's illegal) but are still manufactured here and shipped to other countries like Mexico and Argentina. Many raptors migrate from North America to South and Central America for the winter where they then feed on prey ingesting grasses, seeds and fruits sprayed with these chemicals. Many hundreds and thousands of raptors die during the winter from consuming lethal doses of pesticides in their prey. Others return to nest unsuccessfully because of non-lethal levels that affeect the viability of eggs.

Whether egg shell thinning or the age of the adults or some other factor (or combination) contributed to the failure of the Hornby Island nest probably won't be known for sure.