A crack, or pip, in the first of two eggs in the nest of North Fort Myers eagles Harriet and M15 was seen shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday.
The Facebook site of the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam announced the pip at 8:02: "Early this morning on January 3rd 2023 at 08:02:20am, the first pip was seen when M15 got up to reposition himself on the eggs! Pip pip hooray! This is the the first official view of the pip - it actually occurred earlier, but we have no way of knowing of the actual time it broke through the shell."
The site said that the hatch will be official when the chick is "out" of the shell.
"Congratulations to Harriet and M15 and to all the viewers on this very exciting day as we wait to welcome E21 into the world!"
Harriett and M15, the North Fort Myers American bald eagle pair, who have been visually entertaining bird lovers and others for years via the internet, have been incubating two eggs at their Bayshore Road nest.
Harriet laid egg 1 on Nov. 29 at 6:09 p.m. and egg 2 Dec. 2 at 8:09 p.m.
Second egg arrives: Watch Harriet produce her second egg of 2022-2023
The eagles were forced to rebuild after Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc on their nest.
"They have worked hard at rebuilding their nest from scratch after Hurricane Ian destroyed it and now they are starting a new family in this freshly built nest made with love," the eagle cam website said.
Cameras record the activity at the eagles' nest near the corner of Bayshore and Slater Road in North Fort Myers. Thousands are often online watching the pair. People can also stand outside a fence around the property, using their own cameras and phones to take pictures and videos of the nest and eagles.
This is the 13th season Dick Pritchett Real Estate has provided the 24-hour cameras on the nest.
Ozzie and Harriet were the North Fort Myers site's original bald eagle pair, making the nest their home every year from fall to spring since 2006. Ozzie was fatally injured and died in fall 2015. Harriet and M15 bonded later in the fall of 2015.
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