NORFOLK, VA. - The nesting bald eagles at Norfolk Botanical Garden welcomed the first egg of the season into a snow-filled nest on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 2:15 PM. Yesterday’s unusual snow accumulation overwhelmed the eagles as much as it overwhelmed the area residents.

Eagles (and many other birds) will often delay incubation until all of the eggs are laid. This helps ensure that the young hatch more closely together - keeping the youngest hatchlings from being too disadvantaged.

Even in relatively cool whether the eggs remain viable for some time without incubation, but a nest full if snow is another matter altogether. To keep the egg from being excessively chilled the female has begun incubation. Hopefully the female's body heat will melt away the snow and keep the egg at an optimal temperature. “The snowy weather represents a challenge that this pair doesn't often have to deal with but that bald eagles as a species are well adapted for. Some have asked if the female would wait until better weather conditions to lay her first egg - unfortunately once the process has begun and an egg has entered the female's oviduct there is no stopping it,” says Watchable Wildlife Biologist Stephen Living, from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Research Associate for the Center for Conservation Biology, Reese Lukei, said “She must continually roll the egg to maintain the 105º F temperature required to have it survive.” The normal incubation period between the laying and the hatching is between 35 and 38 days. “For this egg, only time will tell,” said Lukei.

The nest can be observed live 24 hours a day on the Eagle Cam, which is a partnership between Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, WVEC and Norfolk Botanical Garden.

This is the seventh nesting season for this pair of eagles at Norfolk Botanical Garden. Visitors to the Garden can view the nest from the ground and from on top of the NATO Tower. The eagles can be seen perched in the surrounding trees, in the nest and flying back and forth from their fishing trips.

To watch the eagle cam, visit www.WVEC.com