Worries continue at Bald Eagle nest in Michigan…late, late Tuesday in Bird World

26 May 2026

Toby and I have watered the garden, planted an area of wildflowers for bees, swept, cleaned the bird baths, and finished all of our evening chores. Now we return to the Bald Eagle nest at Traverse City, MI, where Snow, the 6-week-old plus a few days eaglet, is in a nest that has lost its support limb. It appears that the limb has somehow caught itself on a neighbouring tree, and that, along with calm winds and good weather, might bring some luck to this tense situation.

The adults have been on the nest and fed Snow.

A pair of adult bald eagles standing near their nest, with one eagle looking down and the other perched on the nest. The nest is made of twigs and is situated among green trees, with a body of water visible in the background.

When I checked Snow had a crop. Single adult returned to the nest and tried to lure Snow up to the top rim to have some fish that was buried there.

A bald eagle stands on the edge of a nest, surrounded by twigs and branches, while two eaglets are visible in the nest below. The setting shows a natural landscape with water in the background.
A bald eagle and its chick in a large nest made of sticks, perched high in a tree overlooking a body of water. The scene shows a sunny day with informational overlay about the location and time.

The adult made its way a little lower being very cautious and Snow did get some more bites of prey.

A pair of bald eagles in their nest, surrounded by branches and foliage, with a view of water in the background. The scene is partly cloudy and the time displayed is 6:51 PM on May 26, 2026.

Then the adult carefully made its way to the branch that extends at the bottom right in the image.

A bald eagle stands on a large nest made of twigs with two eaglets visible underneath. The background shows a body of water and trees. The image also includes a timestamp and weather information.

Snow will go to beed with a nice crop.

A young bird sitting in a nest made of twigs and branches, overlooking a body of water with trees in the background. The image displays time and weather information for Traverse City, MI.

Snow is resting at the bottom of the nest as sunset begins.

A close-up view of a large bird's nest made of twigs and branches, located near water. The nest appears empty except for some nesting material. Surrounding trees are partially visible.
A young eagle is standing in its nest made of twigs and branches, overlooking a body of water. Surrounding the nest are pine trees, and the scene is set on a sunny day with a blue sky.
A young eagle standing in its nest made of twigs, with a view of the water in the background. The scene shows a sunny day in Traverse City, MI, along with a display of current weather conditions.

Send this family your very best wishes. This is a situation that happens in the wild, far more often than we probably imagine. I was hoping someone would fabricate a false nest and somehow get it below this one so that if the nest slid down, it would land on the artificial nest rather than plunge 100 feet. (There appears to be some difference in opinion on whether the nest is 100 ‘ or 200’ off the ground.)

Kudos to the mods on the live chat and to those who are leaving the camera running. You are the best!

FOBBV is doing a magnificient job in collecting donations to purchase the land where Jackie and Shadow’s nest resides – along with many other species. (This is only part of their post).

Post discussing the fundraising campaign to protect eagle habitats from a proposed development near Big Bear Lake, detailing the financial goal and potential impact on local wildlife.

Geemeff’s Woodland Trust daily summary for Loch Arkaig Tuesday 26th May 2026

Another peaceful day, although Louis spent a few minutes alarm chipping at an unseen intruder while he was on incubation duty, but nothing came of it and he didn’t leave the nest. He brought two fish for Dorcha, taking his tally to eighty six and the Nest Two tally to eighty eight. Nest One was untroubled by intruders, unseen or otherwise, but Garry LV0 only brought one fish for Aurora 536, taking his and the nest’s tally to eighty two, keeping in mind that Cam One is offline for a few hours each morning. The weather forecast is dry overnight and for the next two days, with a low of 9°C and a high of 22°C tomorrow. The days are getting longer as the countdown to hatching ticks away and at the time of filing this report, midnight, Cam Two is still on day mode, with a very light sky and the loch clearly visible.

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/U4N0qYOjTEs N2 Early breakfast for Dorcha 06.10.16 

https://youtu.be/AeTSJzyIlEk N2 Second fish from Louis for Dorcha 15.34.11

https://youtu.be/puWi04WxUqY N1 Finally! Garry brings a fish for Aurora 16.46.30

In the UK, politicians and the legal system continue to fail the raptors they are charged with protecting!

UK legislation continues to fail birds of prey as widespread illegal killing continues – new report from RSPB

The Condor Chat is live on Thursday the 28th. They also have a fantastic on line auction if you wish to help out these incredible people who work hard to protect this very endangered species.

The Condor Chat May 28 Auction BeginsDownload

The Least Flycatchers are flitting about all over the garden. I can see several grey squirrels coming for peanuts along with Mr Crow. They are especially enjoying the nice, clean, cool water that Toby and I put out. Meanwhile, Little Red is inside the small covered feeding helping himself to Black Oil Seed. I will try and get some photos this week but for now it is good night.

Take care everyone.

Thank you to Geemeff for their daily post about all things Loch Arkaig. There are many more videos, but sadly, this system will not post them! Makes me growl. Thank you to all the people who are posting on FB and the owners of the streaming cams that allow us to watch our bird families in the good, the bad, and the unknown times.

Published by maryannsteggles

I went to the UK as a Commonwealth Scholar in 1990 and received my PhD from the University of Leicester in 1993. After three decades of university teaching, I retired to devote my time to the study of raptor behaviour. I am particularly interested in Ospreys and am working on a long term project on third hatch survival and siblicide in these raptors. My blog is a result of a fascination with my local wildlife and the desire to encourage others to love and care for birds! I live on the Canadian Prairies and prior to the pandemic travelled a lot. I am questioning the use of aviation fuel at the moment as we all strive to help our planet. My early research was in politics and art including British public statues exported to Southeast Asia and Vietnam Resistors that contributed much to Canadian ceramics. Books and articles were published on those subjects over a period of 3 decades. Now I am working on books for children so they can learn about the challenges our raptors face.

1 Comment

  1. Linda Kontol says:
    11 thAmerica/Winnipeg-05:0031America/Winnipeg05bAmerica/WinnipegTue, 26 May 2026 20:59:20 -0500 2021 at 20:59

    Thank you for the latest Mary Ann on little Snow. Praying they will be ok at the nest. Glad to hear they have boots on the ground and rescue if needed !
    Have a good evening and take care. Give Toby a hug.
    Linda

    Reply

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