Hoot have thought? A pair of great horned owls have apparently taken up residence in a bald eagle nest in a wildlife refuge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore — and a nature cam intended to capture the eagles is getting an eyeful of owl instead.
The nest in question is on the grounds of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, in Cambridge, Maryland. A newly installed high-tech camera system, maintained by the Friends of Blackwater group, was intended to capture a bald eagle pair that used to call the nest home.
Last year, the camera captured the eagle pair as they successfully fledged two eaglets.
But, this year, things took a turn for the unexpected. First, the male eagle went missing from the area. Then, the female eagle absconded from the nest.
With the eagles gone, “that left the door open for the owls to come in,” said Lisa Mayo, the webmaster for the Friends of Blackwater group.
And those owls appear to have made themselves right at home.
The female owl was recently seen spending a significant amount of time on the nest — so much so that cam-watchers with the group think she might be about to lay an egg or two.
Last week, her mate was seen on the cam making food deliveries of live prey to the nest.
The Friends of Blackwater group is tracking all the avian activities on its Facebook page. You can catch the livestream yourself on the group’s website.
And, thanks to infrared technology on the cam, you can even keep track of the nest after the sun goes down. (For all you night owls, naturally.)
In case you’re wondering, in occupying the erstwhile eagle nest, these owls are simply doing what comes naturally. According to the Audubon Guide to North American Birds, great horned owls, rather than building their own, typically take over the nests of other large birds.
And what happens if the eagles return and want the squatters evicted?
Mayo said only the female eagle has been seen in the area recently, so it’s possible she mated up with another eagle at his nest.
She hasn’t seen the signs of any cross-species confrontation, either.
“We have not seen any clear indication that there has been fighting between the eagles and the owls,” Mayo said. “We haven’t seen any indication that the eagles have tried to shoo away the owls.”
The Friends of Blackwater have run an eagle cam at the wildlife refuge since 2004, originally broadcasting still images. When broadband streaming came to the area, the group installed two streaming video cameras.
The group also runs an osprey cam and a waterfowl cam, which is especially active in the winter with snow geese and tundra swans.
But the group was really hoping their newly installed camera equipment would capture all the eagle comings and goings this year. “Without a doubt, the eagles are attraction,” Mayo said.
Still, even without the eagles, the cam is providing a front-row seat to another interesting avian pair. “Hey, it’s Mother Nature. You’ve got to roll with it,” Mayo said.
Closer to the D.C. area, two longtime livecams capture bald eagle pairs.
The cam on the grounds of the National Arboretum capturing the President and First Lady is now up and running after some technical glitches.
However, the cam run by the Earth Conservation Corps group that captured Liberty and Justice’s nest on the grounds of the D.C. police academy in Southwest D.C. has been beset by technical glitches and offline for months.
