Welcome to the Duke Farms Eagle cam page--We have been documenting this nest here on the HWF forum since 2009!


Link to the Duke Farms cam -- http://www.ustream.tv/channel/eagle-cam


Link to the 2015 thread -- forum/viewtopic.php?topic=722648#722648


FB link -- https://www.facebook.com/groups/DukeFarmsEagles/



The Duke Farms pair- Dad(L) and Mom(R)



"Duke Farms is a 2,700-acre estate in Hillsborough, New Jersey, and is owned and supported by the Duke Farms Foundation. The mission of Duke Farms is to be a model of environmental stewardship in the 21st Century and inspire visitors to become informed stewards of the land. Duke Farms in Hillsborough, N.J., is one of the largest privately-owned parcels of undeveloped land in the state. The mission of Duke Farms is to serve as a model of environmental stewardship and inspire visitors to become informed stewards of the land. (© 2009 Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. All rights reserved.)

This eagle nest has been observed on the farm since 2005. This Eagle Cam was installed to provide researchers with an opportunity to monitor a pair of nesting Bald Eagles without any disturbance to the birds. It is being shared with the public to provide viewers with a glimpse of wildlife in its natural environment. In 2008 a camera was set up by Duke Farms in a neighboring sycamore tree 110 feet up, capturing footage of nesting seasons in 2009 and 2010. This camera permitted the public to get a unique glimpse of the nesting, feeding and fledgling of Bald Eagles in NJ.

- newly hatched 2015 eaglets

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In the late fall of 2012 the original nest , tree, and cam were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy

The Bald Eagle nest at Duke Farms suffered considerable damage after battling sustained 90-mile-per-hour winds during Hurricane Sandy. The damage was discovered by Duke Farms staff members during ongoing damage assessment after the storm passed.

Staff approached the 80-foot-tall nesting tree and found the large sycamore split in half and the crown (the branches and leaves) resting on the forest floor. Twigs and other remnants of the next were also found in the area.

it appears that the Duke Farms eagle nest was the only casualty of Hurricane Sandy’s wrath. Conserve Wildlife of NJ stated that none other of the known 100 nests were adversely affected by the storm.


- 2015 eaglets a few weeks old

Nest stats for 2015/16 ~~


* Eggs laid -- - Egg #1 - Feb 18th ~~ Egg #2 - Feb 21st

* Eggs hatched -- - Egg #1 - March 26th ~~ Egg #2 - March 28th

* Branched --

* Fledged -- #2 on June 14th ~~ #1 on June 20th

* Last seen --


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A lot of good history on this nest and some great pictures can be found at this link --

http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/education/eaglecam/

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Our Dad is a banded eagle -- Here is some info so far from the Ustream cam page --

After some close looks at the bands it appears the male eagle was banded in NJ in 1999 and is either from a nest in southern NJ or warren county NJ. Please let us and the state fish and wildlife non-games species department know if you see the 2nd # on the green leg band on the eagles foot (the state leg band format for 1999 is A5X, with the X being the unknown last digit).





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A few quick facts ~~

The pair built a new nest in a sycamore tree 100ft south of the eagle camera in late December 2012. The view of the nest was limited by branches and leaves during the 2013 nesting season. The nest is about 80 feet high in the tree. In the fall of 2013 the camera was moved to the new nest tree.

A view of the nest and tree --




A total of 21 eagle chicks have been raised and fledged from this nest since 2005.

2005- 1 chick
2006- 2 chicks
2007- 1 chick
2008- 2 chicks
2009- 3 chicks
2010- 2 chicks
2011- 2 chicks
2012- 1 chick
2013- 2 chicks
2014- 3 chicks
2015- 2 chicks


- 2015 eaglets at about 7 weeks

Wonderful information on the founding of the host "park" and the duke family -- lots to see and read!

http://dukefarms.org/en/About-Us/History/


The nest area at Duke Farms

reserved

reserved

A VERY tidy nest but no eagles

The cam is still down---they say they are working on it.

I just checked on the Duke Farms cam and found that it is back up, but, darn, no eagles in the nest.