Stewards of the Upper Mississippi Refuge focuses a cam on a one-of-a-kind (that we know of) nest of three bald eagles on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, near Fulton, IL. There are two males and one female who breed and raise young in the nest. For the past three years, they have had clutches of three eggs each year. All three eagles participate in all parental duties that a regular pair of two eagles would.
At present, the trio are sharing incubation duties for a clutch of three eggs: 1st egg arrived at 3:20 pm on January 26, 2017 2nd egg arrived at 1:15 pm on January 29, 2017 3rd egg arrived at 6:03 pm on February 1, 2017
That's the smartest female eagle on the internet if ya ask me. Double the food, double the incubating breaks, double everything. Sure does blow more of those old "Eagle Facts" out of the water tho doesn't it! Especially the one about how territorial the male eagle is about his nest. hmmmmm
Sadly, on March 24th, at approximately 6 pm, an intruder came to the nest and Mom of the Trio went after it to defend her chicks and nest. She never returned, leaving the two males to watch over the 2 hatched eaglets. The 3rd remaining egg was not viable and never hatched. There were people on the ground looking for the female eagle, but it disturbed the males and they flew out of the nest leaving the eaglets vulnerable to the cold temperatures at that time, so the search was called off in hopes that the males would return to the nest to care for the young. At that time, the 2 eaglets were a little over 2 weeks old. I have a few pictures of Mom days before this incident occurred. Trio nest 3-21-17 mom & 2 fluffs.JPG - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Trio nest 3-21-17.JPG - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Trio nest 3-23-17 feeding.JPG - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Trio nest 3-23-17 mom 2 eaglets & eggbert.JPG - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte) The Dads of the nest seem to be doing an excellent job of feeding and caring for the eaglets. Of course they are a lot smaller now, but I'm sure as their appetites grow, along with their bodies, they should be able to keep up the supply of food that will be needed. Perhaps there was a "higher power" that kept that 3rd little egg from hatching knowing what the future held for this nest. hmmmmm ..... Trio nest 3-27-17 dad & 2 chicks.JPG - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Trio nest 3-27-17 gently feeding.JPG - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Trio 3-27-17 huge crops.JPG - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)
Thu Feb 23, 2017 2:31 pm (Last edited: Mon Feb 27, 2017 12:51 pm)
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I think this might just work out for them. Two dads is working out fine!! 
