John Bunker Sands Eaglet passes

9 February 2026

It is always difficult to bring sad news, but I also want us to celebrate the survivors. There are many for us to cheer on – SW Florida, Captiva, Dade County, NE Florida, etc. Please send these nests your best wishes.

One of the eaglets at the John Bunker Sands Wetlands has died. I believe it to be the youngest but I stand ready to be corrected.

JBS 25 died around 1040 on Monday, the 9th of February. The eaglet hatched on the 26th of January – it was two weeks old and appeared to be doing well. The parents are excellent.

IF this is a case of HPAI, then, sadly, we will expect the older eaglet JBS 24 to pass as well as they were fed from the same prey brought to the nest. It would be the same situation as we observed at the SW Florida nest of M15 and F23 last year.

Let us hope this is not the case.

SK Hideaways videos of the two healthy eaglets: https://youtu.be/TbdMIiN8zE4?

Thank you to ‘MP’ for alerting me to the illness on the nest and to the others who wrote to see if I knew the eaglet had passed. Yes, sadly. Let us all remain hopeful for the second who has had a good meal, and I hope they are in a food coma as I write this. Thank you to SK Hideaways for their video yesterday, which preserves this beautiful family before their passing. Thank you to JBS Wetlands for the streaming cam that allows us to view the lives of our raptors – the good and the sad.