Toronto’s first documented bald eaglets developing well, TRCA says – The Weather Network

The pair of eaglets growing in Toronto’s first-recorded bald eagle nest seem to be doing well, a conservation official says, but the young raptors are in a “very precarious time” in their development.

“They are doing a lot of wing flapping and hopping around the nest, which is a good sign,” says Karen McDonald, senior manager of restoration and infrastructure at the Toronto Region Conservation Authority.

McDonald and her colleagues have been carefully observing the nest since it was discovered in mid-February, after a mating pair of adult bald eagles was seen showing signs of courtship.

The location of the nest is a closely guarded secret and even TRCA maintains a “large buffer” around it, McDonald says, watching the eagle family only from a distance through a spotting scope.

“Despite these birds being really large and fierce, they are actually very sensitive to human disturbance,” McDonald told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning on Monday.

The eaglets are about five or six weeks old and have another six to eight weeks before they can take to the skies above the city, she said.