2012 active eagle nests

[Markus Hanika]

Hello all together,

after scheduling my florida trip for the next two weeks, i still struggle a little bit with the florida fish and wildlife conservation eagle nest locator.
The latest nests seem to be from 2011 and most of them don't seem to be easy to get to.
Does the 2011 info mean these nests are from the 2010/2011 or the 2011/2012 season?
The eagles, right now, are already raising their chicks or are they already fledged?
If not, are there some nests which give good photo ops around Fort Myers, St. Pete, St. Cloud, Viera Wetlands/ Meritt Island?

Thanks in advance
Markus

[Maureen Allen]

Hi Markus - I believe the Eagle Nest locator only tracks up through the 2011 nesting season, so new nests would not be there. However, there's a feature that allows you to see the nesting history of each site, so you can pretty well guess what is active this year (if they've been there for the past several years, chances are good they've returned.) A lot of the nests are inaccessible and many are on private property, but some of them are fairly easy to find.

[PeterGruener]

Hi,

From what I heard the bald eagle nest in Cape Coral should have two chicks in there. Unfortunately, we have not been there to confirm this.

Peter

[Marina Scarr]

Our 2 eagles nest from the St Pete area from last year have gone off and nested in cell towers this year and are not photographable. Most of the young eagles at this time are on the verge of fledging or have fledged.

[Markus Hanika]

Well, then i have to hope that i'll be lucky and A) will find a nest or strickly speaking some bald eagles somewhere by chance and b) the young ones will still wait another week or two for me before they all have fledged ;-)

[PeterGruener]

Hi Markus,

There are at least one bald eagle and obviously one golden eagle around the Viera Wetlands as well along the Wildlife drive in Merritt Island. This nest is going to be empty soon as the fledgeling is away from the nest preparing for his first flight. Btw, even with the 800mm lens and a 1.4x converter the nest is far away.

Good luck,

Peter