NORTH FORT MYERS
The mother eagle, Harriet, has not been seen since Thursday, and many are worried whether the eaglets will be able to live a normal life without their mother.
The expert told WINK News that she thinks they will do well and admires the work M15 is doing to protect and feed their eaglets.
The biggest threats are intruders, other birds and even other eagles looking for new homes because of the hurricane.
And while it’s only February, some say M15 is the father of the year.
“I think at the age these eaglets are at … and as good a job as he’s doing, I think they have a very good chance of survival,” said Shawnley Breeding, Audubon EagleWatch program manager.
M15 may be a single father who must protect and feed his eaglets while their mother is still missing and may never return.
Everyone can watch their progress thanks to an Eagle camera supplied by the Pritchett family. They admire M15’s work, but will he be able to keep it up?
“While he does an amazing, amazing job of providing food. A lot of people are wondering what’s going to happen in the next couple of days,” Ginny Pritchett said.
Shawnley Breeding, EagleWatch program manager, told WINK News that the eaglets are just over a month old and still have five to eight weeks left in the nest. She is one of the believers who thinks the M15 will beat the odds.
“I think if I had to give a percentage, I’d say 50/50, just to hedge my bets. I feel like he could easily feed them well enough for them to escape successfully. The unknown factor, you know how much time he’s going to have to spend on defense and what’s going on while he’s catching food and so on,” Breeding said.
And it’s a heightened threat because of Hurricane Yang.
“A lot of eagles in your area, like people you know, are lost, their homes have been moved. So many Eagles had to rebuild, they are trying to find new places to rebuild. So I saw a lot of turf battles in the affected areas as the Eagles moved and tried to re-establish territory,” Breeding said.
Breeding told WINK News that because of the protective nature of eagles, especially female eagles, the chances of Harriet being okay or hiding are very slim.
