Missouri’s only bald eagle live camera feed, streaming from Blue Springs, is giving curious viewers an opportunity to watch a nesting pair go through a key step in the iconic bird’s lifestyle.
“The hope is that the parent birds will have mated and will lay eggs, and then those eggs will hatch, of course,” said Chris Cain, an urban wildlife biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Bald eagles are a protected species in the United States, but they were once endangered. In the 1960s, some estimates put the number of nesting pairs at fewer than 500. Today, there are more than 70,000 pairs, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Missouri alone hosts an estimated 200 nesting pairs of bald eagles, according to the department of conservation. For Cain, the livestream is one way to celebrate their resilience.
“At one point, they were near the brink,” said Cain. “They’ve bounced back quite a bit, and this is an example of that.”
There’s no guarantee that the Blue Springs bald eagle pair will have chicks this spring, but Cain said he hopes viewers get to see what goes into rearing — including how parents keep the young birds fed in their nests, which can reach 13 feet deep and eight feet wide. Their diet includes a combination of wild prey, such as fish and rodents, and carrion or dead animals.
Cain said he wants to raise awareness of the impact that humans can have on local food chains and habitats for bald eagles. He said pesticides and lead shot can contaminate the prey species that bald eagles consume. Meanwhile, mature cottonwood and sycamore trees make nests possible.
“Maybe this will spur folks to think of better ways to conserve habitat,” Cain said.
The camera feed, which went live on Tuesday, was established by the Missouri Department of Conservation through a partnership that includes the city of Blue Springs and Wild Souls Wildlife Rehabilitation, among others.
"The ability to set up the only live stream eagle cam in the state of Missouri is an incredible opportunity to connect our community with nature in a whole new way,” said Blue Springs mayor Chris Lievsay in a statement.
Typically, bald eagles mate for life and will produce one to three eggs each year. It is rare for all three chicks to reach maturity. Once a young bald eagle has acquired its adult plumage, it can live for up to 30 years.
Although viewers may not see eagles each time they watch the feed, Cain encourages viewers to keep checking in — their activity may increase in the coming weeks.
