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A pair of eagles in Minnesota went viral for the way they protected their eggs during a snowstorm.
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Officials announced Sunday that the 2,000-pound nest had fallen from its tree.
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One of their chicks, who hatched on March 26, died as a result.
A bald eagle that worked tirelessly through the winter storms to protect its eggs — even refusing to move as it got piled on by snow — lost its baby chick after its 2,000-pound nest fell to the ground on Sunday.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced on Facebook that the chick, who was born on March 26, was found dead after a few hours of searching on Sunday.
The Minnesota eagle family gained attention after one of the eagles was spotted partially buried under a mound of snow, with only its head poking out, as it remained in its nest and waited out a storm in order to keep its two eggs warm.
The male and female took turns incubating the eggs, while the male also provided food and kept a lookout for potential threats or predators.
One of the eggs had broken on March 1, leaving behind a single egg born at the end of March. A week later, it died.
Officials said that they were unsure as to how the nest fell in the first place, but that the most likely reason was that a blizzard the day before resulted in an accumulation of snow too heavy for the tree branch that carried the nest.
“The branch was dead and the nest was over 20 years old and weighed over 2,000 pounds,” the state’s DNR wrote in a Facebook post. “In the area and neighborhood near the nest there were many fallen trees and branches from the heavy, wet snow.”
It is unlikely that the pair of bald eagle parents will lay another egg this year, even if they do find another nest, the DNR stated.
“Even if they have an alternate (which is likely, eagles tend to build multiple nests in the same area for this exact reason) our nesting season is too short for them to have another brood,” the DNR wrote in an update post on Monday.
But there is a chance the pair will try to rebuild a nest in the same area, since eagles tend to be loyal to certain areas. Officials announced that the pair had already been seen mating as of Monday.
“Eagles mate for many reasons, including bonding. So this is a good sign that the pair’s bond is strong,” the DNR wrote.
The rates of survival for baby eagles are usually very low. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, eagles have a mortality rate of over 50% during their first year of life, and only 1 in 10 eagles will become adults.
Bald eaglets have died for a variety of reasons in recent years, including hypothermia and nest collapses.
Read the original article on Insider
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