Two adult eagles and a fledgling roost in a dead trees in Walworth County (photo by Beth Berger Martin).
Walworth County had at least 12 new Bald Eagles take flight this nesting season, a wonderful success considering the county didn’t have any documented eagle nests until 2018. Our small but mighty group of nest watchers have been monitoring nests since 2018, and joined the Bald Eagle Nest Watch (BENW) program in 2020.
However, despite that success, Walworth County also had three nest failures in 2024. One nest failed due to a lightning strike that killed the male adult Bald Eagle that was brooding an unknown number of eaglets, one where the nest crumbled out of the tree but the tree remained intact, and one where a portion of the tree and the entire nest fell to the ground during a drenching storm.
The last nest has an interesting story, one of grit, determination, and observation. Three characteristics shared by both eagle watchers and… Olympians!
The Bald Eagle nest before the tree and nest came down, with two healthy eaglets in the nest (photo by Kelley Happ).
Some eagles seem to love dead trees, and this particular pair was no different. They built twice and lost twice in the last 4 years. Our BENW volunteers have monitored this nest since January, and confirmed two big, healthy eaglets in it. Then during a big storm which came through on June 22, 2024, I worried about the two unfledged eaglets that were likely asleep in the nest. I texted the nest watcher that lives closest to the nest, Mary B., and asked her if she could see the nest in the tree. Due to darkness, she could not see it.
I woke up the next day to a doorbell ringing at 5AM. We live remotely and I can only remember our doorbell ever ringing once before and then, like now, I was home alone. I grabbed my phone to dial 9-1- and had my finger perched to hit that second 1, when I noticed I had several phone calls and text messages. I do not know how I did it and wasn’t actually aware that I could do it, but I had set my phone on ‘do not disturb’.
Mary was at my door, letting me know the nest was indeed down. Having no idea what we might find, Mary and I made our way through the jungle of the marsh area that had two fallen nests, parts of the nest tree along with many other downed trees. And there in front of us, the two eaglets were sitting on top of the fallen debris. They both moved when we startled them, moving wings and feet, which I quickly assessed were moving properly. Eaglet one quickly moved under brush and was out of sight. I did not think beyond them looking well and was truthfully so surprised that they were sitting there, seemingly fine. I just wanted us to move away from them and leave them to be looked after by the adults. It wasn’t what I was expecting but boy, was that great for Mary and me to both see.
The eaglet that was later brought into a wildlife rehabilitator (photo by Beth Berger Martin).
Later in the day, I started to think about what had happened. And I wondered what made me think those birds were just fine. Yes, the wings and legs looked fine. But what do I know beyond that? So I called a rehabber not too far from the nest to ask if she could come by to look at them to tell me if I made the right call. She made me feel better when we spotted one of them and she said I wasn’t wrong to think it was not seriously harmed. But if you fall down in a nest, you are bound to be banged up a bit. The rehabber was concerned that adults might not feed an eaglet on the ground so we spent a lot of time finally catching the only one we had seen that afternoon and she took it back to her facilities. It turns out it had some soft tissue damage and some bruises but was otherwise fine.
So then what? Well, if we could find where the other eaglet went, we could have them tended to together. So I asked Mary, Kelley H., and Ginni M., all of whom were current or former watchers of the nest, to meet me at the nest. The land owners were great with giving us access to anything we needed. So prepped with gloves, a dog crate, blankets, and lots of bug spray, we entered the Wisconsin jungle. Unfortunately, we could not find the other eaglet and we did not hear it either.
Our next step was to start observing the nest at least in the mornings to see if we could get a sense if the adults were feeding the eaglet near the ground. We suspected moments of interaction but due to the expanse of the area and the density of trees, we could not see the eaglet. I asked that we all remain vigilant with watching and communicating about the nest until we knew what was happening with the eaglet to be sure it was being cared for. All of us were reporting when we were there and what we were seeing to a text group we created for the nest. Mary, being the closest to the nest, wins with the most number of observations with multiple per day! Kelley and Ginni were no slouches though, with far more observations than me!
Four incredibly long days passed without seeing the eaglet at the nest site.
And then a flurry of texts started flowing in that the eaglet was finally spotted up in the favorite roosting tree and it looked fine… and huge! It had been being cared for by the adults and was flying and behaving just fine. I will confess to shedding tears and I know the other three did as well. It was such a happy moment when, quite honestly, fear had crept into all of our thoughts that we may lose this one. But gratefully the adults were clearly feeding it when it was on the ground until it was able to fledge to the roosting tree. We were four incredibly happy women!!
Two adults and the prodigal fledgling roosting near the nesting area (photo by Beth Berger Martin).
So the first eaglet was looking great, but we still had the one in rehab, which is well cared for and has an eaglet from another nest that it is being housed with. When they are released, they will be released together but not necessarily at the nest location.
The property owners had a construction project scheduled to start in July. They delayed the start date to mid August so that there would be no disruption to the eagle family coming back together. But eagles do not heal on a schedule and rehabs are busy places. Regardless, it was happy for the group of us that they too wanted what was best for the eagle family.
At no point in time did any of the three volunteers ask me why this was something we needed to do or when we could drop our observations. They were all in ALL the way!
An adult and the fledgling roosting (photo by Ginni Magda).
So what did we learn?
We already were aware of other nests where adult eagles feed young on the ground. But we confirmed that even in a nest falling from a tree, adults do continue to feed their young. The maturity of the pair may play into feeding or not, but these eagles were skilled parents.
I talked to an experienced raptor handler for another organization I volunteer for and she gave me great advice to follow for the future and in hindsight, which is what the group of us should have done. I assessed the eaglets and they appeared to be fine. She suggested that I continue observations for another 20 minutes or so to be sure eyes appeared clear and their behaviors are normal. That was a great suggestion. The next day we could have gone back to check on them with the other volunteers to make sure they were still looking fine. And then the 4 of us “continue to observe” to be sure they were being fed. But these things are tricky. Which eaglet is better off? The one left with the adults or the one in rehab that is not coming back to its family?
We learned to trust the eagles. They know what they are doing.
Left to right: Beth, Mary (red), Kelley (tan) and Ginni. In the thick of it (photo by Beth Berger Martin).
A huge thank you to the team that came together for the sake of the Bald Eagles that bind us to one another, Mary, Kelley and Ginni. You women are the best friends a Bald Eagle family could have and volunteers that go above and beyond the call of duty. Olympians in my book!
Written by Beth Berger Martin, BENW volunteer and program lead for southeastern Wisconsin
