Southwest Florida Eagle Cam: Eaglets Return to Their Nest After Eye Infection Treatment

Fear not! The Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW), Inc. reports that E17 and E18, two of the bald eaglets that are observed by the South Florida Eagle Cam, have been returned to their nests after being treated for eye infections. On Jan. 29, experts noticed that the eagles had a crust forming around their eyes, so they were removed from their nests to CROW for care.

CROW posted an update on their Facebook on Friday morning, explaining that the eaglets were doing well enough to return home. “This morning, our veterinarians checked the eaglets’ eyes and found no signs of infection,” they reported. “The eaglets were given a third injection of antibiotics that will continue to fight any potential lingering infectious cells for a few more days. They were also given a clean bill of health and cleared to return to the nest!”

“The eaglets were fed a hefty meal as arrangements were made immediately to transport them back to the nest,” the post continued. “Thank you once again to our friends at Joshua Tree, Inc, for their assistance and use of their bucket truck to return these healthy eaglets to their nest!”

The eaglets were re-nested at 9:30 a.m. ET and a few hours later they were greeted by their mother, Harriet. There is always a concern that parents won’t accept their babies when they are returned, but that wasn’t the case with Harriet and M15. The experts at CROW explained that they would continue to monitor the eaglets through the live cam just in case they have signs of infection again.

Luckily for the eaglets, it was a simple infection and not something worse. “We’ve had them on antibiotics for the past seven days and it turned out it was not avian pox, which is wonderful and it was a bacterial infection that we treated,” said Alison Hussey, executive director at CROW.

“As with all our wildlife, we try to get them back as soon as possible and healthy,” Hussey continued. “So when we determine that they were healthy and ready to go back into the nest then as you can see we got them in there first thing this morning.” You can watch the livestream here alongside thousands of others as the eaglets readjust to their home.