With round 750 EagleWatchers in our program, there are sure to be similarities amongst them (past having a ardour for Bald Eagle monitoring). We caught up with two EagleWatchers at completely different factors of their volunteering careers: a veteran and a freshman, and we have been stunned to learn the way a lot they’d in widespread.
Jerry Hook is a veteran EagleWatcher in Southwest Florida. 5 years in the past, he was out birding at Pine Island when he met EagleWatcher Michele Murphy searching for eagles. They talked about their shared curiosity within the species, and Murphy efectively recruited him to EagleWatch. Hook and Murphy stay pals, and so they share knowledge concerning the nests of their space.
Pam Miller grew to become an EagleWatch volunteer in December 2024. Like Hook, she got here throughout an EagleWatcher in her space: Whereas out biking in her neighborhood, she noticed a automobile with an Eaglewatch magnet on the door. A lifelong fowl nerd, she went
residence and eagerly appeared up this system on-line, and the remainder is historical past. She submitted her first report on December 30.
Hook and Miller each watch a number of nests. Hook’s file is 17 nests in a season, although after Hurricanes Ian, Helene, and Milton, his most up-to-date depend is 14. All are inside eight miles of his residence. Miller displays 4 nests, the farthest about ten miles from her residence.
The geography of Hook and Miller’s areas is about as completely different as it could actually get in Florida. Hook observes nests on Pine Island, a big island made up of rural and agricultural land in Lee County on the Gulf Coast. Miller lives in quickly urbanizing Seminole County, residence to the Little Large Econ State Forest and a part of the Econlockhatchee River in Central Florida. Each volunteers cite the identical challenge as essentially the most difficult factor about being an EagleWatcher, the fact of growth inflicting habitat loss for Bald Eagles. Moreover, hurricanes pose a further risk to giant nesting bushes.
EagleWatch is a lot extra than simply watching nests. For many volunteers, it’s the eaglets inside these nests that make all of it worthwhile. “I’ll always remember the primary time I noticed the top of an eaglet fop over the rim of the nest,” Miller says. The happiest second of her freshman season was seeing an eaglet enterprise outdoors of the nest to a tree department, hopping round and fapping its wings in preparation for battle classes. She usually brings her husband together with her to watch nests, and it has been enjoyable for them to do collectively. Certainly one of her nests is on an alpaca farm, including much more animal viewing to the expertise. With this primary season below her belt, Miller says she’s able to seize her binoculars and recognizing scope and begin a brand new season.
This story initially appeared within the 2024-25 EagleWatch Annual Report.
