It’s the 27th of January as I write this column, two days after Sunday’s snowstorm. We had between 14 and 17 inches of snow during the storm, which will stick around for some time due to the forecast of single-digit lows for the next few days. In between bouts of shoveling paths and clearing out the driveway, I came in to warm up and check a couple of eagle-nest cams on the internet, where I was a bit surprised to see an active incubating nest within a 90-minute drive from home

Duke Farms, located in Hillsborough, NJ, is a wildlife sanctuary accessible to the public. A few years back, a bald eagle nest was discovered on the property, and it was decided to install a nest cam during the fall, when the bald eagles have finished raising young. This year saw the female lay three eggs between January 12 and January 15; the latter was the day of a previous snowstorm.

For comparison, the eagles in the Upper Delaware region start incubating around early March, with a few nests starting in late February. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, bald eagles take about four months between the start of incubation and the young fledging. This region’s average fledge time occurs around the end of June to early July. From there, the adult eagles spend another month with the young as the fledglings learn flight skills, foraging food (and stealing). This leaves the young a short summer’s end to hone their skills on their own before autumn and the colder weather brings its challenges.

Eagles need a lot of time to grow and develop, so the adults start breeding early; the potential for snow and cold weather is still high. Nest locations to the south have somewhat milder weather; Duke Farms has a latitude about 1 degree south of Narrowsburg (about 70 miles away), but closer to the ocean. Eagles take advantage of mild climates by starting their breeding earlier. Just before noon today, the Duke nest cam showed a nest exchange between a male and female, and when they swapped, the three eggs were seen in a small bowl in the nest, dry and snow-free. To see this pair live, visit www.youtube.com/user/dukefarmsfdn/live.