I had sent an email off to ask some questions of the folks at the Yukon Electrical Company to see if I could find out more about this exciting new nest. Laura Carlson, Senior Corporate Communications Advisor, very nicely and quickly responded to my questions. I have reformatted our email conversation into a Q&A type view, to make it a bit more readable. “Q” is my question, “A” is Laura’s answer.
Q: Do you know when the eggs were laid?
A: We were able to capture when the female laid the third egg, which was on April 15th. (note from Twizz: putting us smack onto day 35 today from the probable lay date of the first egg) We are currently working on getting our YouTube channel up, where we will be posting highlights of the eagle activity. Just as an interesting note, we were able to capture the eagles endure a pretty awful snowstorm. We are hopeful that we can get the clips up by the end of the week.
Q: Are you able to tell us anything about the eagle pair? (approx age, have they used the nest before?)
A: As this is the first year the camera has been installed, we aren’t 100% sure if this is the same female from last year. The nest is in a very high visibility location in town and we have been able to observe the eagles for the past few years. We know that last year there was a pair, but the male was killed. The female was able to raise one chick to fledging. So we think this is the same female as last year.
Q: Has this nest been successful in the past?
A: Yes, it has been occupied since 2009
Q: How high up is the nest?
A: The nest is located in an artificially constructed basket at the top of a utility pole, 40 feet up.
Q: Are there any special markings that help to distinguish the eagle parents (other than the female being larger)?
A: We know the female has much more apparent white in her wings (note from Twizz: I think I am also seeing a black spot on the top of the head of one of the parents, but don’t know which one yet)
Q: What is the most often seen food?
A: So far we have only seen ground squirrel and fish. The nest is located right on the Yukon River.
Q: What can you tell us about the cam itself?
A: The camera has the capacity for sound, however it wasn’t installed this year, we can pan, tilt zoom. There is no night vision, but based on the fact that we get about 20 hours of daylight (Twizz: my emphasis -it is way cool!) from mid-May until the end of July it really didn’t seem like a feature we needed.
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A huge thanks to Laura Carlson for her wonderful answers! Since the third egg was laid Apr 15, and you back up 6 days to the likely date of the first egg being laid (typically 3 days apart), that puts us at day 35 on hatch watch today! If there was delayed incubation, then it may be a few more days, but either way, we are in the hatch watch window! Can’t wait!
