Will a watched egg hatch? Fans of garden's eagles hope so

Any day now.

That was the word Friday from folks at the Norfolk Botanical Garden who are keeping tabs on a single eagle egg – the lone survivor of five laid this season – all under the watchful eyes of untold numbers of viewers of the popular internet Eagle Cam.

If there is soon a young eaglet in the nest, it will be a happy highlight of a dramatic season that has seen invaders and squatters in the nest and a domestic dispute worthy of a soap opera.

All is peaceful now, however, and experts believe the lone egg should be ready to hatch any time, possibly this weekend.

"You can see them messing with the egg a little bit," said Amy Dagnall, a spokeswoman for the Garden.

They are perhaps aware that the young one inside is restless to come into the world. "But they are still lying on the egg," which suggests that its shell has not yet begun to crack.

“The typical incubation time is 35 days which would put it around Saturday,” said Stephen Living, a wildlife biologist for Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. But this pair “has a history of somewhat extended incubations.”

The eagle parents "aren’t taking a chance with this egg," said Dagnall. On Friday, they were staying close to home, one always tending it carefully.

Dagnall has her fingers crossed.

"This eagle pair has been plagued with problems this season," she said.

First, they had to move from their nest of four years and build a new home.

"Their old nest fell apart," Dagnall said.

But no sooner had they put down the final bits of straw in their new home when they had unwelcome guests: squirrel squatters who moved into the bottom of the new digs.

"As far as we know, they are still living in the bottom," Dagnall said. "You will see the squirrels running around the trunk of the tree and then into the bottom of the nest through a little hole. It's really bizarre."

Then there was an owl that hung out at the nest for a while.

But the real drama came when a would-be interloper showed up.

The uninvited female caused what appeared to be split among the pair of eagles who had, for a fifth year in a row, brought eggs into their nest.

A lengthy squabble followed and, in that time, the first two eggs were left unattended in cold weather for long periods. They became unviable.

The intruder relented and departed and the couple reestablished themselves. Soon, there were two new eggs.

But they were broken when something startled the nesting female.

"It was late at night," Dagnall said, "but we have the infrared light" on the Eagle Cam for night vision. Reviewing tapes, "you could see a dark shadow flying over the top of the nest. We never saw what it was, but it scared her and she jumped up." The eggs were damaged.

Although four eggs had now been lost, the "resilient" female wasn't willing to give up, Dagnall said.

She had one last egg just at the end of the mating season and, Dagnall.

"Luckily, it has been a very quiet month" since, she said. Other than a lot of rain, nothing has bothered the nesting eagles in recent weeks.

"It will be a relief," when the egg hatches, Dagnall said. Observers will know the event has happened when the parents immediately start bringing "small pieces of food to the nest for the young one."

Hopefully, Dagnall said, "that one eaglet made it through this tumultuous season."

Steve Stone, (757) 446-2319/2309, steve.stone@pilotonline.com