Final eagle observations
Bald eaglet preparing to fly! Landis Street - 4/20/26
With less than a week before we head north, I decided to take one final look at the four eagle nests we’ve been monitoring over the past 4 months. The first nest today was the one located off Landis Street in New Smyrna Beach. This nest was slow to get started with quite a period of apparent inactivity before we spotted our first chicks. A couple of our nests have already had eaglets fledge and have vacated the nest area. This nest is finally showing signs that these young eagles are almost ready to take to the skies. The vantage point from which I am able to photograph this nest is not ideal. To observe and photograph these birds, I have to cruise slowly down a quiet street at a snail’s pace and try to grab images while no cars are coming in either direction. This image is partially blocked by tree limbs and needles, but it does show one of the chicks actually refining his flying prowess by flapping and hovering just above the nest. He was able to suspend his massive body for short periods of time, and it will only be a matter of time before he ventures out on this first flight.
Resting eaglet - Landis - 4/20/26
After all that effort, it was obvious that this youngster was exhausted and he dropped back down into the nest for a well deserved rest. Within a week or so, I would wager that he’ll take to the skies.
Nest stop was the very productive nest on Volco Road in Edgewater. These eagles were some of the earliest to hatch this winter and hence the first that we observed to actually fledge and leave the nest. For a week or two after their first flight, they were hanging around the nest, making short flights to neighboring trees before returning to their nursery. The last several visits, however, have found the nest totally vacant…no adults or chicks anywhere to be found. We’ll be sure to return to this site next year and see how the parents make out on their next child rearing venture.
Empty nest - Volco Road - Edgewater - 4/20/26
Site number 3 is the still active nest on Kennedy Parkway near the WSEG Boat Launch. This nest has been active since we first checked on it back on January 12th when only adults were seen. It was more than a month later on February 23 that we first found chicks on the nest. At that time we only saw two, but as time wore on and we continued to monitor the nest, we realized that there were in fact three eaglets in the nest. Today, I found one eaglet resting in the nest and a second perched on a branch very close by.
One eaglet one the nest and a second “branching” - Kennedy Pkwy nest - 4/20/26
I was concerned that the third eaglet (remember, this nest was home to 3 babies!) was not visible. I walked down the road a bit to get a different angle of view and did in fact finally find the third bird some distance away. Obviously, this bird is a bit advanced and has actually taken to short flights. Another nest which will very soon be vacant until its time for Mom and Dad to add to their growing family once again.
The third chick resting on a nearby branch.
And last but not least, our nest on Ranken Drive where in spite of the tree obviously dying over the course of the winter, the nest continued to remain viable, and two young eagles were fledged. Our last sighting of either of those two chicks was documented in the March 27th posting of this blog. At that time, the young bird had flown a good distance away from the nest to another tree in the neighborhood. Today, nothing but the empty nest. The tree has apparently died and there is a question as to whether the adults will return to this site next year. Only time will tell. This has been a productive nest over the past several years, so we certainly hope that the parents will again return and have another successful brood in 2027.
The vacant nest on Ranken Drive - Edgewater - 4//20/26
It’s been a real pleasure to see nature in action in the form of the birth and maturation of these “little” chicks to full-sized juvenile eagles. We wish them well and can’t wait to see what nest year brings!
