Eagles on the nest
Bald eagle on nest - Kennedy Pkwy MINWR - 1/12/26
Each year, we monitor the activity in several eagles’ nests that we have located during our winters down here in Florida. The first that we always check is in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on Kennedy Pkwy. Near the WSEG Boat ramp, the nest is somewhat distant, but offers a clear view to see and photograph activity.
We pull off the road just below Weather Tower Road and then with bins, scopes, and telephoto lenses can watch what is going on at the site. Our plan is to monitor each of three nests that we know have been active in the past and that we found are presently occupies by adult eagles. This site ,known as BE066, had a single adult sitting on the nest….no sight of the second adult. The fact that this bird was sitting on the nest the entire time we observed makes me believe that she(?)may be incubating eggs. I say “she” but in fact, both parents will share in the duty of incubating eggs for a period of from 34 - 36 days. As we have no idea as to how long the eggs have been already been incubated (if indeed they have!), we simply have to check periodically to see what progress is being made. So we’ll wish the eagles of BE066 well and move onto the nest site.
Adult Bald eagle at the nest on Rankin Drive in Edgewater - 1/12/26
Our second nest site of interest is a long-standing productive nest on Ranken Drive in Edgewater, Florida. This nest is officially known as VO106 as tagged by Audubon’s Eagle Nest Monitoring project. We’ve been following the activity at this site each winter over the past several years, and it has been quite successful at producing successful clutches of young eagles each year. While we did find a nice mature keeping watch over this nest today, we did not see any activity inside the nest. Additionally, we noticed that this tree is in bad shape with much of the foliage turning brown. Hopefully, the resident eagles won’t figure it’s time to move to
”greener pastures” and abandon this nest site. We will continue to check on this nest and report back to you as to any activity and hopefully progress we see.
Satellite image of nest site VO106
Last, but hopefully not least, Sharon and I took a short ride to see if we could locate a third nest site that I found on the Audubon nest monitoring site.
Satellite image of nest site VO170.
Looking at the satellite image of the location of VO170 was certainly enticing as to finding an easily watched nest site. We plugged Volco Road into our GPS and easily located the road. A short distance down this two-lane drive and just before the road has a sweeping turn to the left, Sharon spotted the nest. With an easy and safe pull-off on the side of the road, the nest was easily seen and was to our great joy occupied! A new nest to monitor this winter!
Adult on the nest on Volco Road in Edgewater, FL 1/20/26
Our first sighting of any activity at the nest was a head popping up to look around. Shortly after we started looking and photographing this bird, it hopped up out of the nest and perched on a branch to the right. After a short time, the bird took flight and a second bird came into the nest. Certainly promising for having located a third productive nest.
Eagle takes flight 1/20/26
And so our eagle monitoring project for 2026 begins. We will keep you informed as to any progress and hopefully success these birds have at producing young. We are lucky enough to have found and photographed these eagles and their nests early on in the breeding period, so wish us and them good luck.
