The Tesoro Club, Port Saint Lucie - For months now, people have been watching a live video stream online of a pair of bald eagles and their offspring. The Eagles are long time residents of Saint Lucie County, probably longer than most human residents. Their nest was first documented by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in 1978, it was designated SL001. It’s the oldest Eagles nest on record in the county. Thanks to Ginn’s generous donation of a large portion of land, some of the highest priced land on his property, the eagle pair has a prime nesting area around a large lake and nature preserve.
Preserving the eagles’ habitat meant significantly modifying the development plan. “He literally designed the development around the moving eagles. He changed the location of the clubhouse, the location of golf courses, the location of a major element of what was going to be his waterfront development…to create a preserve for these birds,” said Charles Lee, director of advocacy for Audubon of Florida. The preserve totals about 120 acres of prime real estate and is cost Ginn an estimated $40 million dollars in potential profits.
This past Tuesday morning made it all worth it, as the pairs offspring, two eaglets named Birdie and Bogie, made their maiden flights out of the nest. The first to leave was Birdie, a female bald eagle, who flew out of the nest to perch on a nearby tree for a few hours. Bogie followed a little while later and the pair spent most of the day and the rest of the night testing their wings as they surveyed their new surroundings.
The eaglets maiden voyage was a cause for alarm among many regular views of the Eaglecam, a webcam hosted by the Audubon of Florida’s Web site. Many viewers came on Tuesday to view only an empty nest not knowing the birds had taken to flight. “People are really freaking out because they click on the nest, and there’s nobody home sometimes,” said Lynda White, Eagle Coordinator for the Audubon of Florida.
While this is good news, the eaglets aren’t out of the woods yet, no pun intended. The first year is a difficult learning process for young eaglets that many don’t survive. But White reassures her viewers, “If they stay anywhere in the area, it’s a great place to be an eagle.”
The eaglets will spend the next couple of weeks making similar short trips out of the nest, each time going a little further and staying out a little longer before returning to their parents for a free meal. Besides the Eaglecam, Bogie is equipped with a GPS tracking device so researchers and fans of the Eagles can track his movements online.
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