Find someone who will fly softly and help you carry a big stick.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service tweeted a video on Thursday showing two resident eagles working together to build a nest at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia. The NCTC provides education and training for natural resource managers. The eagle couple live on the grounds (high up off them).
The clip features one of the eagles arriving in the nest with a long branch followed by a sweet sequence of teamwork as the eagles place the stick onto the nest using the combined grip of their beaks. “This bald eagle family needs you to stop scrolling and watch as they perform their branch manager duties,” the USFWS quipped.
According to the USFWS, bald eagles mate for life. The pair at NCTC are known as Bella and Smitty. They’ve laid two eggs this season and the couple takes turns incubating them.
If you’ve never seen a bald eagle nest in person, it can be hard to fathom just how large they are. Eagles often use ambitiously hefty branches during construction. The largest bald eagle nest on record stretched to 10 feet (3 meters) and weighed over 2 tons. That means Bella and Smitty have some room to grow their home.
If you enjoyed this moment of eagles being buds, you can follow their future exploits via the EagleCam livestream hosted by the Outdoor Channel in partnership with USFWS and the Friends of the National Conservation Training Center. There’s been some drama recently with an interloper eagle bothering the established couple. As far as scintillating viewing goes, this is way better than The Kardashians.
