WARNING: Our two cameras display live views from a wild bald eagle nest at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland. The cams will display raw, unfiltered nature that might include wildlife interactions and weather calamities that we cannot control. We have a no-intervention policy, as we are just observers.
User Tips: Select "Other Views" on the video player to see the second cam.
If the wind sound is too loud, you can mute the speaker on the video player.
Nest Updates:
April 15, 2024: The owl chick began branching, and we captured a video of the moment. We also noticed it fell from the tree after branching, but this can be common for young owl chicks. The parents can still feed it on the ground, and the chick is also able to use its talons and beak to climb a tree to avoid predators.
April 3, 2024: Female Great Horned Owl catches a mouse super quick and chick swallows it whole.
March 15, 2024: A look at our owl chick eating rabbit. Also notice the pin feathers developing on the chick.
March 13, 2024: Good look at the chick's face. At this stage, we don't expect the 2nd egg to hatch.
March 5, 2024: A better look at our first owlet, and a video showing a close-up of the owlet and an intruder flyby that happened near sunset. Be sure to follow us on Facebook for more frequent updates.
March 4, 2024: The first egg has hatched. See a video of the mother and the chick. We're still waiting on the other egg to hatch.
March 1, 2024: We captured a video of a parent switch on the nest and the male gently rolling the eggs. We hope to see hatching around the first week of March.
February 4, 2024: The male Great Horned Owl brought a small mammal (maybe a mouse) for the female on the nest. See our video. There are still only 2 eggs, so that appears to be the final clutch size.
February 2, 2024: The female Great Horned Owl laid her 2nd egg today. The average clutch size is 2, but we'll wait to see if there is a third.
January 30, 2024: The female Great Horned Owl that has been visiting the Eagle Cam nest for several seasons has finally laid an egg. You can see a video of the egg on our YouTube channel. Visit the Birding Pictures website to learn more about Great Horned Owl nesting behavior.
August 16, 2023: Since the nest is quiet outside the breeding season, we've pointed one of the cameras at the pond beneath the nest. Some animals we see are turtles, deer, and raccoons.
February 28, 2023: Although a Great Horned Owl couple visited the nest again this winter, they did not produce eggs.
October 5, 2022: The eagles are not currently nesting at this tree, but they do occasionally visit as does a Great horned owl couple, so we'll keep the cam online to see the action.
January 24, 2022: For the second winter, we have Great horned owls visiting the nest. We keep hoping they'll lay an egg, but they mostly just visit at this time.
April 7, 2021: The eagles did not use the nest this year, but we're still seeing adult and immature eagles visit the nest, so we'll keep the cam on.
January 18, 2021: As eagle nesting season approaches, we hope to see a new pair adopt the nest. Normally in the early winter, the couple repairs the nest and then eggs come in January or early February.
April 13, 2020: We did not see our male bald eagle this nesting season, so something may have happened to him. A pair of Great horned owls were visiting the nest for a few weeks, but it appears they will not be nesting here this season. We'll leave the cams live for now and hope that an eagle pair uses the nest next breeding season.
Welcome to the New Blackwater NWR Eagle Cams
The Friends of Blackwater began broadcasting still images from a bald eagle nest at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) back in 2004. Over many successful nesting seasons, we saw a total of 25 eagle eggs hatch at the cam nest, but after several failed nesting seasons, the bald eagles abandoned the nest and we stopped broadcasting. We have now installed two streaming video/audio cameras (one Pan-Tilt-Zoom camera and one bullet camera) in a new nest at the Refuge.
In the 2018-2019 nesting season, the adults at this nest successfully raised and fledged two eaglets, as seen in the gallery below. We hope they will again find success during the 2019-2020 season on our cams.
Nesting Action from 2018-2019 Season
Copyright Notice: Images/videos presented on this site are the property of the Friends of Blackwater and may be used for educational and non-commercial purposes; they may not be sold. All images/videos must be accompanied with a photo credit (example: Image or Video Courtesy of the Friends of Blackwater NWR).
Acknowledgements: Your memberships and donations to the Friends of Blackwater support this cam. Join or donate to the Friends if you enjoy the cam. The Friends thank the following groups for their support: Maryland Heritage Area Authority | Dorchester County Office of Tourism/Heart of Chesapeake Country Heritage Area (grant) | HDOnTap | Choptank Electric Cooperative | Bayshore Electric | Travers Enterprises, Inc.
