Eagle Cam: Southwest Florida eaglet hatches on New Year’s Eve
FORT MYERS, Fla. - A pair of eagles in Southwest Florida that have captivated millions on a livestream, are starting 2024 with a new eaglet.
M15 and F23 welcomed E23 to the world on December 31, 2023.
According to Dick Pritchett Real Estate, which streams the daily activities of the birds through its Southwest Florida Eagle Cam, E 23, named for an eaglet born in 2023, hatched at 7:07 a.m.
The realtor’s website stated that the eaglet’s mother, F23, looked at the baby bird, touched it gently with her beak and quickly covered it for warmth and protection.
"I tell people, if you would have asked me three or four months ago where I would have thought we’d be when we started the new year, this is definitely not what I thought we’d be saying," explained Ginnie Pritchett, co-founder of Southwest Florida Eagle Cam. "Because this is truly a perfect scenario or perfect story book ending for the crazy year that was 2023 for this nest and for the Eagles after losing Harriet in January, February of last year. We were so unsure if we’d even have a pair of eagles to watch this upcoming season."
Courtesy: Southwest Florida Eagle Cam
The eagles’ nest has generated attention since September 2012 when a noiseless camera was placed six feet above the nest to capture the daily lives of eagles Ozzie and Harriet. The pair had been visiting the nest since 2006.
Since 2012, several other cameras have been strategically placed on the tree to watch the nest, which sits 60 feet above the ground in a Slash Pine tree.
Courtesy: Southwest Florida Eagle Cam
"I think that’s why we love when the timing works out with the end of the year with the new year and beginnings and resolutions. It is such a positive story that folks can tune into and kind of forget the everyday problems and see just a nice, feel-good story," Pritchett shared. "And that’s what we love to share with the world, that these eagles who were once on the endangered list and very protected are even without cameras on them, thriving and surviving and just as cute as can be right now."
Viewers rejoiced as the couple welcomed eaglets over the years and mourned when Ozzie was killed by an intruder in September 2015.
After his passing, Harriet took M15 as a mate and the world continued watching as life went on with new eaglets hatching.
Harriet and eggs.
In the spring of 2016, officials say the nest deteriorated and completely fell apart, but the birds rebuilt.
It was destroyed by Hurricane Ian in 2022, but less than two days later, Harriet and M15 began to rebuild.
"The eagles had started to rebuild and had to start from stick one basically," said Pritchett McSpadden at the time.
Three months later, they were ready to welcome two new eaglets – called E21 and E22 – to the world and viewers rejoiced.
F21 is not even a day old as it gazes up at its mom, Harriet.
That joy soon turned to sorrow when Harriet disappeared from the nest after an "intruder" was spotted near the nest in early February.
RELATED: Where is Harriet? M-15 continues caring for two eaglets while mother remains missing
She was never seen again by officials who monitor the nest, leaving M-15 to fend for their two hatched eaglets.
Nearly a year after Harriet went missing, M-15 recently returned to the nest with his new mate, F23.
Courtesy: Southwest Florida Eagle Cam
The first egg between the newly mated couple was spotted in November.
Officials who monitor the camera said in a social media post, "The odds were against this newly mated couple but Mother Nature and natural instinct continues to prevail."
M15 and F23 had been tending to two eggs, but, according to the website, the second egg became compromised somehow and did not hatch.
"While I do know we all do mourn the loss of our second egg that we were watching these last 35 days we are so excited to see and have E23 be happy and healthy and hatched and looking so cute in the nest today," Pritchett said.
Click here to watch the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam live.