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Two Bald Eagle Chicks Hatch At Channel Islands National Park

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Eaglets at Channel Islands National Park/NPS

Two eaglets have been spotted in a bald eagle nest at Channel Islands National Park/NPS

After two previous clutches failed to hatch, a pair of bald eagle chicks have appeared in a nest in Sauces Canyon on Santa Cruz Island at Channel Islands National Park off the California coast.

The successful hatch reported Monday marks the first successful one after three years of attempts by the adult bald eagle pair, according to a park release.

The first chick hatched on Saturday, March 12, at 7:46 a.m., and the second chick pipped out of the egg shell Monday at 11:52 a.m.

Each of the adult birds were hatched at San Francisco Zoo Avian Conservation Center and released on Santa Cruz Island as part of an effort to reestablish the birds after their disappearance from the islands by the 1960s due to impacts from the chemical DDT. The 11-year old male was brought out to the island in 2005 and the female arrived in 2006.

The adult male bald eagle, known as A-40, started using the Sauces Canyon nest in 2011 but was mated with a different female bird. Since 2014, he has been paired up with his current mate A-48. Their nest attempts failed in 2014 and 2015 at the Sauces Canyon nest site located on top of a Monterey Pine.

The Sauces Canyon bald eagle pair is the first to lay eggs this season across the Channel Islands. The pair laid three eggs at the nest in 2016, but the first one disappeared.

So far in 2016 there are 19 known breeding pairs across Channel Islands. There is one on Anacapa Island, eight on Santa Cruz Island, two on Santa Rosa Island, seven on Catalina Island, and one San Clemente Island.

The first bald eagle to hatch unaided by humans in more than 50 years on the Channel Islands occurred in March 2006 on Santa Cruz Island. Since then, bald eagle recovery has been steady.

You can watch the bald eagle chicks develop this breeding season via live bald eagle webcams. Biologists and the public also can track and learn about their behavior on a bald eagle discussion forum.

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