A baby eagle was found dead just a couple hundred feet away from its nest early Tuesday morning. It's the second one Pascha Donaldson of the Cape Coral Wildlife Trust found near this nest.
When she first got an email in the morning describing what happened, she didn't know what to think.
"I got a call, or an email saying there was a dead baby eagle found and I didn't think it was dead I thought it was injured", she told Four In Your Corner.
Donaldson is president of the newly formed Cape Coral Wildlife Trust. The organization tried to gain land, either through fundraising or donations, so that animals like eagles can have a consistent habitat. The organization had a ribbon cutting on its first plot of land when the eaglet was found. She also works with Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife.
The eaglet was found a bout a block and a half away from the nest near a branch that appeared to be a piece of nesting material. For Donaldson, this was enough to indicate that the baby bird was likely taken from the nest by one of the eagle's predators.
What had Donaldson worried is the activity, or lack thereof, in the eagle nests she's been following this nesting season.
"There are two nests that are deserted right now that weren't three weeks ago."
She believes that is could be a combination of many factors that are not only causing eagles to desert their nests, but also causing them to not reproduce at the rate they should.
One of the major factors, she believes, is the development of the area. The increasing amount of people, and structures to serve their needs, may potentially encroach the needs of the bald eagle.
"It's really important to respect that space so that they can carry on and keep having their babies."
This is also advised by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on their website.
