Predator Attacks Eaglet At Oklahoma's Famous Eagle Nest

NewsOn6.com

NEAR STILLWATER, OK -- It appears natural selection has struck Oklahoma's famous bald eagle nest yet again. A predator apparently killed the lone eaglet on the nest Monday night.

The experts at the Sutton Avian Research Center in Bartlesville say they've checked video recorded by the camera at the nest but they can't tell what the predator was. They believe it was most likely a great horned owl, raccoon or bobcat.

Watch the Bald Eagle Nest Cam Live

They say the video shows the eaglet on the nest at 8:42 p.m. Monday night. They say they could see rapid and blurry movement at 8:47 p.m. but no movement again until the adults returned to the nest at 8:08 a.m. Tuesday.

The Sutton Avian Research Center will be sending an expert to the nest site to try to determine exactly what happened.

It's the second death of an eaglet at the nest this spring.  On April 1st, the second eaglet to hatch, which was only a couple of days old, fell out of the nest and died.  The third egg laid has never hatched and may not have been viable anyway.

4/1/2010  Related story: Tragedy Strikes In Eagle Cam Nest; Eaglet Does Not Survive Fall