Watch bald eagle parents tend to fuzzy babies after 2 eggs hatch in Ohio. ‘So sweet’
Bald eagle parents Bonnie and Clyde have been protecting three eggs for over a month in an Ohio nature preserve.
Now they are tending to two fuzzy eaglets after one hatched March 19 and the second hatched March 22 in their nest at the Bortz Family Nature Preserve in Cincinnati, the Cardinal Land Conservancy said in a Facebook post.
The second eaglet is seen in a video still stuck in part of its egg at first as one of the eagle parents watches over the two. After a few hours, however, the eaglet is seen completely free from its egg.
In a March 20 video posted by the Cardinal Land Conservancy, a nonprofit, the parents are seen switching shifts to keep the first eaglet warm.
Bonnie flies out of the nest so Clyde can take over watching the baby and the two unhatched eggs.
“Dad was so gentle sitting down, so sweet,” one person commented on the video posted to Facebook.
To distinguish the difference between the two, Bonnie is larger than Clyde, and her feathers have “significantly whiter tips,” Cardinal Land Conservancy development manager Lauren Stanula told McClatchy News by email.
The first egg was laid Feb. 10, followed by the second egg Feb. 13. Bonnie laid her third egg Feb. 16. Eagles typically incubate eggs for about 35 days.
The nonprofit is expecting the third egg to hatch in the next few days, Stanula said.
But this isn’t the first time the eagles have raised eaglets together.
In fact, Bonnie and Clyde have been at this nest for the last six years, Stanula said. This nest is near a small airport and “busy marina.”
“It is our belief that they put up with higher-than-average levels of disturbance because the area is so rich in food resources,” Stanula said.
Last year, Bonnie also laid three eggs, but one egg developed a crack and did not hatch. Two eaglets successfully hatched, but one later died.
The surviving eaglet, named J-Lo, successfully left the nest, the nonprofit said in a July 2022, Facebook post.
Stanula said the nonprofit hopes all three eaglets will fledge this year, probably around July 4.
The group is also asking for help naming the eaglets. To suggest a name, a person can become a “Cam Keeper” by donating to the eagles fund.
Names will be chosen at random on Earth Day on April 22.
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