– By Lisa Levesque. Thanks so much to Lisa and the Fort St. Vrain fans for their detailed observations and support!
In December of 2022, Ma and Pa returned to the nest area. January brought some nestorations and quite a few migrating visitors. February really ramped up with the plans for eggs. Rails were built up high and lots of grasses brought in.
The first egg was laid on March 2, 2023 at 6:14pm, the 2nd on March 5 at 3:33pm, and the 3rd on March 6 at 6:26pm. Ma and Pa worked well together caring for the eggs and, on April 10 at 2:38pm, egg #1 (FSV47) hatched. Egg #2 (FSV48) hatched on April 14 at 4:58am. The third egg failed to hatch for the second year in a row.
FSV 47/48 got along extremely well with very little sibling rivalry. Unfortunately, on May 10, FSV48 was lost during a very cold severe hail storm. There was a lot of nasty weather rain/sleet throughout much of May. FSV47 continued on growing and learning. They hopped up to their first branch on June 20 and after a couple weeks of building up their flight muscles, FSV47 confidently fledged on July 2 at 9:09 am, returning a couple hours later.
FSV47 has grown into a magnificent juvenile Bald Eagle preparing to go out in the big tough world and was last seen on camera on 8/8/23. This season’s photo album can be viewed here: https://m.facebook.com/lisa.junior.3/albums/548206553482556/?mibextid=ncKXMA.
This nest view is only possible because of Xcel Energy and Raptor Resource Project if you’d like to donate towards the cams please do so here: https://www.raptorresource.org/support-the-raptor-resource-project/make-a-donation/.
Thanks to everyone for another great season!
The Raptor Resource Project