Laying an Egg

I've mentioned before about watching the Shephardstown Eagle Cam. http://www.outdoorchannel.com/Conservation/EagleCam.aspx And I have been checking in this year. Watching Belle with her new man, Ben. Ben's a young bird. Belle has a few years on her (uhmm, does that make her an eagle cougar?). Anyway, we're all waiting for the first egg of the season to be laid, and its made me think a bit about the art of egg laying.

First, you have to have the place just right. Earlier in the year, the pair renovated their nest. They tossed out leaves and other debris that had been deposited since last year. They gathered sticks and arranged them into the nest's guard rails. Those will be essential as the young one begins to grow so they don't go toppling out of the nest. Arrangement of those sticks is often a point of contention. I thought Belle was going to whack Ben over the head with one the other day when he wouldn't put it where she wanted it.

Eagles are big birds and their weight could crush an egg. So they make an egg cup in the new, soft material they've put in the nest. That way, the egg is cushioned and they nestle in on top of it without having the full brunt of their weight on it. Plus, I'm sure the soft material helps keep the egg warm.

Have you ever seen an eagle's egg? Its weird. There's almost a light emanating from it, as if you can actually see the life force. They often appear to me as a light bulb in the nest.

Laying one can't be as simple as it first seems. Think about it for a minute. There has to be some control over when it gets released. Otherwise, Belle could be flying around or going after a fish and plop, there it goes like a giant bomb. Since that doesn't happen (at least as far as we know), she must have some control over when it arrives. But probably not a whole lot. Its in there and its got to come out. I could compare this to another biological function we're all familiar with, but I won't. :)

So Belle is spending a considerable amount of time in the nest lately. She arranges and re-arranges the fluff. She sits down in it to test it out. She stands over by the edge of the nest checking it out and obviously waiting for the big moment.

I sure hope Ben turns out to be as good a father as Liberty was. He's been bringing food to the nest and helping with the housekeeping. But I'm pretty sure this first time eagle daddy hasn't a clue about what its going to be like to have a hungry little eaglet mouth that has to be fed and fed and fed and fed.

I'm just glad these guys have a relatively safe place here in West Virginia they can have at least pretty good odds of raising a family. Some of the problems we've seen over the last year are likely due to loss of habitat. What a shame if we allow "progress" to deprive these magnificent animals of the last few places they can live in the lower 48 states!