To the joy of watchers around the world, a new eagle camera is going live in Minnesota.

Photo Credit ( Greety image )

When a new eagle camera goes live on Thursday, eagle enthusiasts everywhere who were devastated by the live-streamed collapse of a nest, including two birds and their chicks, will have another chance to see it.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday that the new camera is in a different area and will display a different nesting pair. However, because the original pair still visits their former region and constructed a new nest about half a mile away, the DNR will also continue to operate its old EagleCam. Even as late as Friday, they were spotted there.

A spokesman for the DNR’s Nongame Wildlife Program, which operates the cameras, Lori Naumann, said the previous camera had viewers in homes, classrooms, and nursing homes in 50 states and about 160 countries. A couple that fans informally called “Nancy and Beau” lived in the ancient nest until it collapsed on April 2, 2023, after a strong snowfall. When a limb holding the nest, which weighed 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) and was more than 20 years old, collapsed, the mother bird took off. Later, the girl was discovered dead.

Popular Facebook groups that followed the couple saw a flood of condolences, and those groups’ members were thrilled to hear the news on Tuesday.

Before the nest collapse, Naumann told reporters they frequently had thousands of viewers at any given moment, particularly during the pandemic when viewers who were confined to their homes turned to the internet to get their fix of nature. The most eagles in the lower 48 states are found in Minnesota, and they even construct nests in cities.

According to Naumann, the pair has been nesting in the new, unknown location for at least four years and has raised multiple broods of eaglets. Since officials haven’t kept a close eye on the parents yet, they don’t know how long the nest has been there or how many chicks they have hatched, she added.

On Thursday, both cameras will be live on the DNR website and YouTube channel at about 6 a.m. CST.

According to Naumann, there isn’t much activity at the nest right now, but that will change.

“Right now, it’s not really breeding season,” she stated. As their courtship behavior intensifies over the next months, we anticipate that they will begin bringing fresh branches and nesting materials into the nest. In order to demonstrate their commitment to one another and their deservingness of a relationship, they actively construct the nest together after that.

According to her, the female is anticipated to lay two or three eggs in February, and it will take them roughly 35 days to hatch. Usually, both adults take care of their chicks, feeding them dead fish all the time to sate their ravenous appetites.

Regarding “Nancy and Beau”—the DNR doesn’t identify the animals it monitors—it wasn’t practical to put a camera and provide electricity to their new nest, where they successfully raised two babies the previous season. After a thorough search, the agency decided on the new, easier-to-get-to-spot with a healthy tree. Early in October, they installed the camera, which came to a total of roughly $5,000. As with the first camera, Xcel Energy, a Minneapolis-based company, supplied the bucket lift truck and additional services to install the new camera for free.

Direct donations and a voluntary check-off on the state’s personal income tax form fund the Nongame Wildlife Program, which the eagles represent. To help endangered species, it provides funding for a variety of wildlife initiatives throughout the state. Although the DNR isn’t an official participant as a government entity, the cameras will be live on Thursday to capitalize on a statewide charity event.