A new lady in the HBEC nest

To be honest we are not sure what to make of the happenings at the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam nest over the past two weeks.  Our beloved Eloise has not been seen at the nest in the past 10 days and a new female eagle has been a regular visitor and contributor to the "crib rails" placed around the perimeter of the nest to keep the eaglets from tumbling out.

There was a lot of speculation in the beginning that the new eagle was Eloise but was just having a bad hair day but we have had the pleasure of viewing her for many years and there was no doubt that this eagle was a new one.

The new female eagle has made herself at home spending a couple of nights in the nest and bonding with Elliott.  It is widely believed that bald eagles mate for live but as detailed in this article from William and Mary Cams Reveal Deadbeat Dads, Cheating Wives, and Nest Intrusions we are now learning with the vast increase in eagle cams around the world that this might not be the case.

Eloise looking over HB9 in the nest bowl.

Where is Eloise?  We do not know but we are not going to speculate on what has happened or if she will return to the nest.  We hope and pray that she is safe and sound and just taking a long vacation but if not we have to move on.  Things happen that we are not aware of and we have to remember that we are watching nature in it's most true and raw form.

Since she seems to be happy at the nest and Elliott seems to like her we may have a new nesting pair of eagles and she needs a name.  My daughter Hannah who named Elliott and Eloise has decided to name the new female eagle Eliza.  So that will be her new name.  Hope everyone likes it.

Again we hope and pray that Eloise is safe and sound and will return to the nest if possible.  We still feel very fortunate to be able to watch these eagles and if this is our new pair we will get to learn new and different nesting patterns.