Bald eagle egg cracks in windy Northern California nest. ‘Heartbreaking news’

Bald eagle parents Liberty and Guardian lost one egg in their Northern California nest, an eagle-watching group said.

The egg was seen cracked Feb. 29 as the area was hit with blustery winds, according to the Facebook page Friends of the Redding Eagles.

“It is truly a sad day here at FORE as we grapple with the news,” the group’s founder and director, Terri Lhuillier, said in another post.

Liberty and Guardian have been taking turns incubating their three eggs.

The first egg was laid Feb. 15, followed by the second egg on Feb. 18 and the third egg three days later, McClatchy News reported.

The group and its followers hoped the bald eagle mom would successfully become a parent of three again as she did in 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2021.

But that won’t be the case for her this year.

Liberty has laid three eggs eight times since the group has been watching her, Lhuillier said.

“So, that shows us that losing 1 of the 3 eggs is actually a fairly common occurrence & has now happened at least 50% of the time that we have documented,” Lhuillier said.

Although the group doesn’t know why the egg cracked, Liberty and Guardian still have two eggs left in the nest to protect and potentially raise into eaglets.

“Heartbreaking news. Praying for the other two to hatch successfully,” one person commented on Facebook.

“They are such devoted parents and I hope they get to raise two beautiful eaglets!” another person wrote.

The live eagle camera can be viewed here.

Redding is about 160 miles north of Sacramento.

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