Both eagles at the nest Credit: Courtesy of VINS

Two lovebirds are starring in a Vermont reality show. It’s live, unscripted and wild. Cameras have caught the pair preening, dining and copulating, and viewers tune in around the clock.

Elementary school teachers and librarians watch with their students. “It’s the highlight of our day,” one wrote in an email.

The live-stream stars, Dewey and Windsor, are wild bald eagles nesting in a white pine at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Quechee. The pair raised an eaglet in the nest last year. Banking on their return, VINS staff mounted two cameras near the nest, perched 100 feet above the ground with a view of Dewey’s Pond.

The move paid off. The birds returned in February. Since March 17, when Windsor laid an egg, she and Dewey have taken turns keeping it warm. Their eaglet is expected to hatch around April 21.

In the meantime, audience members tuning in will likely see at least one eagle at the nest. To keep up with home improvements, the majestic birds often arrive home bearing sticks and grass to add to their aerie. Cameras have captured multiple visits by a young eagle who could be the pair’s earlier offspring, Vinnie, though no one knows for sure.

Mealtimes, also recorded, can get gnarly as Windsor and Dewey tear into fish, squirrels and chipmunks. “We think we saw a porcupine once,” VINS marketing director Emily Boren said. “Their stomachs are so strong that they just break down the bones directly.”

Although the Eagle Cam provides a virtual escape to the great outdoors, Boren encourages people to visit the nature center. The nest is visible from the top of the tree house 400 yards away on the VINS Forest Canopy Walk. A scope, soon to be installed, will provide close-up views.

Learn more at vinsweb.org, or follow on the Friends of VINS Live Eagle Cam Facebook fan page.

The original print version of this article was headlined “Eagle Eye”

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Mary Ann Lickteig is a feature writer at Seven Days. She has worked as a reporter for the Burlington Free Press, the Des Moines Register and the Associated Press’ San Francisco bureau. Reporting has taken her to Broadway; to the Vermont Sheep &...