Eggs laid December 18? - Incubation underway

[NewMexiKen]

Humberto had been watching the nest since 7:30 Am when we arrived, about an hour later. We stayed until about 9:00 AM. All that time, an adult was sitting very low on the nest. This behavior change was noted by Mike on the afternoon of December 18th. Presumably, that day marked the deposition of the first egg. We might expect the first egg to hatch in about 5 weeks-- January 22 would be the 35th day.

Both male and female will share incubation duties. A mate may occasionally bring food to the incubating bird, although the most frequent behavior we may expect is the exchange of incubation duties, which we observed only infrequently last year, and at various times of day.

Did anyone visit yesterday (Saturday December 19th) to confirm that the nest has been continuously occupied by an incubating adult ?

We did not see another adult in the area this morning.

Here is about the best view we had of the incubating adult, which is presumably the female:

[Jill W]

My first visit this season was today, Sunday, December 20, at about 11:30 AM.

When I first arrived, I could clearly see with binocs, an adult white head low in the nest.  After about 5-6 minutes, the white head disappeared, but I did not see a bird fly away.  Maybe she or he hunkered down even more because of the cool temperature and fairly strong winds.  A couple of times, I saw an adult stand up half-way and then seemed to reposition for incubation.

I was able to get a feel for some for the areas on the median that would work for a fairly good view of the nest.

I had to leave for about 20 minutes to go to the Walgreens across the street from the nearest gas station (I think it's a Hess) to buy some masking tape for the spotting scope.  The second one I bought has the same problem as the first one I bought (both same models, same company, etc.) in that the eye piece part does not connect properly to the scope.  I tried to get the scope to work by hiding it very low and slightly hidden behind, on the south side of the shrubs on the median, so that the E. bound traffic would not see me or the scope.  Never worked out as I need a new scope or to use a more stable tripod or something.

There were no other cars or watchers while I was there except the city bus driver, who slowed down to about 10-15 mph to get a look at the nest.

I was prepared to leave as soon as another car arrived.  Just a thought.... maybe, some of us could leave a car or two (or more) at Walgreens, Hess or another "legal" place to leave a car and have one car "shuttle" us to the allowed viewing area so there would be less cars at the site to attract attention?

I never saw two adults at the same time while I was there and heard no calling out or noise from any birds.

I left a little after 1 PM.

Jill

[Kelly Smith]

I could not see an eagle at all on the nest last night, Sunday, around 6:45, but this morning at 8:00, after watching what looked to be an empty nest for about 15 minutes, I did see a head flash up, look around, and then disappear below the edge of the nest. One driver, in the east bound lane, stopped in the road to ask if the eagles were back.  This happened last night when there was no other traffic around. The "shuttle" idea may be helpful, and necessary, as there is very little room to park anyway.  The post office may offer sufficient, near-by parking....