EagleCam disappoints in 2025, but DNR hopeful for next nesting season
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Right now, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ famed eagle camera doesn’t show any eagles.
In February, the DNR estimated signs of an eaglet could be visible as soon as this week, following a 35-day average egg incubation period. But the camera aimed at the nest moved out of view earlier this month, likely due to high winds. DNR staff visited the site on March 9 to investigate and decided not to intervene until this nesting season has concluded.
“It’s just not worth the risk,” said Kristin Hall, the DNR Nongame Wildlife Program supervisor.
“It’s a huge investment to not only build the nest but maintain the nest. And then once you have an egg there, they are sitting and spending quite a lot of energy incubating that egg until it hatches,” Hall said. The eagle family then spends another 10-12 weeks in the nest until fledging.
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The DNR did find the camera still attached to the tree, but wasn’t able to move it enough with remote software to get the nest back in the frame. Out of an abundance of caution that the eagles could potentially abandon their nest because of human presence, they won’t try to adjust it manually this season.
“We were very hopeful that this pair and this season would be really fun for everybody,” Hall said. “We’re disappointed. It’s sad. It’s not the way we planned it. Fortunately, the eagles are fine and doing what eagles do. It’s more human technology programs and weather issues.”
There was no EagleCam in the 2024 nesting season for the first time in a decade. The spring prior, heavy snow was likely to blame for the previous nest falling and killing the chick inside. The current EagleCam went live in November, featuring a new pair of eagles; they laid two eggs in February, which could hatch at any time. The original camera is still operable where the previous nest fell and shows the surrounding habitat.
While this year won’t offer as intimate a view of the eaglets’ start to life, “the silver lining is we’ll keep [the camera] running and when those eaglets do start branching out and moving around, we’ll be able to see that part of the eagle nesting period,” Hall said. Once they successfully fledge, the DNR will visit the site and may move the camera for a better line of sight to the nest.
From high winds to political headwinds, Hall recognizes unpredictability in the federal government is another threat to conservation programs like the EagleCam.
“We’re lucky because we live in a state that supports conservation. We just had a 77 percent approval rate to extend the Environmental Trust Fund for another 25 years in our state and that is incredible,” Hall said.
A requirement to match federal funds with state funds has long made the DNR feel “fairly secure” in its finances, but with money potentially on the chopping block, “we need to look beyond our federal funds because of that volatility and see where we can stretch our existing state dollars,” she said.
Programs like the EagleCam and FalconCam are directly supported by the Nongame Wildlife Fund — a dynamic funding system that’s driven by donations, tax check-offs, specialty license plates and other revenue streams.
“We’re lucky to have that so we can kind of ebb and flow with this volatility, but it is going to be difficult in these next few years,” Hall said.
One of the Nongame Wildlife Program’s focuses is to keep animals off of the endangered species list. The EagleCam and FalconCam provide video testimony and a compelling story as to why people should continue to support the DNR’s work, Hall said.