Pip spotted on one of eagle Harriet’s two eggs

A pip, or crack that signifies the beginning of the hatching process, has been spotted on one of the two eggs laid by bald eagle Harriet.

“A pip is when they are breaking out of the egg. And there’s first in an internal pip where they’re like pecking on the inside kind of in a circular motion,” said Marti Lord, a self-described eagle addict. “And then once they break through the shell, they call that the external pip. And that’s the process of the hatching, and it could take days.”

The first pip was spotted on Tuesday just after 8 a.m. on the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam, which was placed above the nest by Dick Pritchett Real Estate. The camera keeps track of Harriet, her partner M15, and the eggs they lay each year.

This is Harriet and M15’s eighth season as a mated pair at this location, and they take turns incubating E21 and E22 for approximately 33 days.

According to the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam, the first Harriet laid this season was on November 29, 2022. The second egg was laid on December 2, 2022.

This is normal, but Lord says this doesn’t mean they’re in the clear. “She’s had two eggs that didn’t hatch, so we keep our fingers crossed and pray we want both. So it’d be 21 and 22. I started with the seven and eight, but it’s fun.”

While the couple’s thriving, it hasn’t always been the case for the species.

“Well, some of the threats we used to have gone away, like DDT, but I think the biggest threats now is poisoning, gets some of them, and obviously, overdevelopment,” said ​Rich Turk, a volunteer docent at Venice Audobon.

Views from the Southwest Florida Eagle Cams raise awareness and give us a bird’s eye view.

The famous birds draw a crowd of photographers and nature lovers daily, but also nationwide.

When Turk isn’t here, he still watches. “It’s kind of you’re educating people. If you share your photos, and if people are educated, they’ll do more, I think to preserve and protect all our birds and wildlife.”

In the 1960s, when the government declared bald eagles endangered, there were 417 breeding pairs, borderline extinction. Today there are more than 300,000 eagles, and soon, hopefully, two more.

You can keep up with the eagles and their soon-to-be eaglets by watching the Dick Pritchett Real Estate Southwest Florida Eagle Cam by clicking here or in the player below.