Liberty and Belle the Orginal eagles
this is a video of the barn and Belle in the tree The original female
2008 Juvies
2008 Fledges the original post for the two videos from the blog and Steven
both adults' in the nest Check out the pantry full of fish
the original pair Liberty and Belle and the Juvies
Recently there has been interest in the history of the NCTC Bald Eagle pairs so i put together this summary to share.
This is Part One
Please feel free to share our information but please give recognition to the small dedicated team of citizen scientists here at Bald Eagles 101 that helped to build this amazing journal over the years, wonderful team effort by all 
NCTC Bald Eagle Nest
History 2002 to 2022 – Prepared by Deb Stecyk, Bald Eagles 101
Belle and Liberty – 2002 to 2011 – Together they Raised 11 Young
2002 – A young pair take up residence at NCTC, they were called Belle and Liberty. The new nest was on the grounds of the USFWS – National Conservation Training Center, located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. As far as we know there were no babies in 2002 or 2003. The eagle nest is on the west side of the NCTC Campus approximately ¼ mile from the Potomac River. The nest is in a large sycamore tree. Over the years there has been growing concern that part of the tree was dying but so far it has held up fine.
2004 – Successful first nesting season; Belle and Liberty raised two eaglets, both fledged.
2005 – Belle and Liberty raised one eaglet, fledged.
2006 – NCTC’s first eagle cam went live. Belle and Liberty raised three eaglets, all three fledged.
2007 – Belle laid three eggs, Feb 6, 9 & 12, winter storms resulted in failed season.
2008 – Belle laid three eggs, hatch dates March 13, 14 & 17. Belle and Liberty raised three eaglets, all three fledged. Cam coverage was not consistent.
2009 – Belle laid three eggs, Jan 31, Feb 2 and Feb 6; only one egg hatched on March 14. The juvenile fledged on May 30.
2010 – Belle laid 4 eggs? winter storms hit the area twice, which resulted in the loss of three eggs. One egg survived and hatched on March 21; we called her Spring. Spring fledged on June 14 at 12 weeks of age.
2011 – Liberty went missing just prior to the first hatch. A young male showed up, threatened Belle and her new baby eaglet. The intruder perched above the nest in the tree. Left on her own Belle was not able to leave the nest to hunt; she remained with her eaglet on the nest. The baby was called Paddy as she hatched on St Patrick’s Day. Belle fed her baby her salvia this was the first time I had seen this on cam. Finally on Day 3 I think it was Belle saw an opportunity to leave and go fish; she returned with a huge fish but sadly her baby dies from starvation. The second egg did not hatch. It was a sad turn of events at this nest. The new young male was easily recognizable as he had a tuft of dark feathers on top of his head and a few dark tail feathers. Belle attacked this young male several times but eventually after several weeks she accepted him as her new mate; we called him
shep/Smitty as he was so smitten with Belle. Other groups called the new male Ben, Spot and Shep.
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Loved the look of the new cam We sill had the Still also
we have had vulture in nest several time Active nest for stopsovers ALSO NOTICE the STUMPS how far our nest now is
Part Two NCTC Bald Eagle Nest - History 2002 to 2022 – Prepared by Deb Stecyk, Bald Eagles 101
- Belle and SShep/mitty 2011 to 2018 – Together they Raised 10 Young
2012 – Smitty and Belle’s first nesting season together. Two eggs were laid, Feb 5 & 8, both hatched on March 14 & 16. The young juveniles fledged at 11 weeks of age June 3 & 4. Smitty was a new Dad was very interesting watching the interaction this first season. At one time there were 16 fish on the nest.
2013 – Belle laid two eggs, Feb 5 & 8, both hatched on March 16 & 17. Both juveniles fledged at approximately 11 weeks of age; the cam was down at that time.
2014 – Belle laid three eggs, Feb 17, 20 & 24 and all three hatched on March 28, 29th and April 1. Sadly, one of the eaglets passed away on March 31. The remaining two eaglets both fledged at approximately 11 weeks of age; there were ongoing cam issues with limited views of nest.
2015 – Belle laid three eggs, Feb 12, 15 & 18. All three eggs hatched. Sadly, the youngest eaglet got crushed when one of the adult’s landed with a fish. The fish was placed directly on top of the baby. The remaining two eaglets thrived, and both fledged at 10 and 11 weeks of age (June 4 & 10).
2016 – Belle laid two eggs on Feb 8 & 11, both eggs hatched on March 17 & 18. Both youngsters accidentally fledged on June 8 at 11 weeks of age.
2017 – Belle laid two eggs on Feb 17 & 20, both eggs hatched on March 26 & 28. The first hatchling died shortly after hatch and the second eaglet died at 2 days of age; both of unknown causes.
2018 – Belle laid one egg on Feb 26. Incubation was interrupted almost immediately when several adult eagles invaded the NCTC territory. The threat of intruders lasted for several days. On Feb 27 and Feb 28 Belle appeared on the nest with significant injuries affecting her mobility. On the evening of Feb 27 after dark Belle appears to stumble when she moves around the nest. On Feb 28 this was observed again when Belle visited the nest. Belle had difficulty weight bearing especially on her right side. It looked like she had an injured wing or shoulder. There were eagle attacks on and off the nest and at night too. Shortly afterwards Belle disappeared likely died from her injuries. Smitty did his best to protect the nonviable egg but there were too many intruders, which resulted in the loss of his mate Belle and the egg. Over the course of three months Shep/Smitty was courted by several different female eagles of various ages, some were mature, some were sub adults and even juvenile eagles appeared on the nest. There were so many visitors harassing or courting Smitty it was hard to keep up. By mid April it looked like She/ Smitty was forming a new bond with one particular female. On May 31, severe thunderstorms moved thru the area, lightening knocked out the eagle cam. Unfortunately, the cam was down all summer so there was a huge gap in reporting on the nest. When the cam came back online on November 1,
shep/Smitty had a new mate, the new female was named Bella in honor of Belle.
-part Three
NCTC Bald Eagle Nest - History 2002 to 2022 – Prepared by Deb Stecyk, Bald Eagles 101Bella & Shep/Smitty – 2018 to 2022 – Together they Raised 4 Young
2019 – Bella laid two eggs on Feb 20 & 23, both hatched on March 29 & 31. Sadly, one of the eaglets passed away possibly from hypothermia. The eaglet had crawled up to the top of the nest away from the warmth of Bella’s brood patch. A grade 4 elementary class named the eaglets were named Angel & Hope. On June 16, under darkness, Hope accidentally fledged as she attempted to fly up to the short post, missed and down she went below the nest. The next day Hope returned to the nest so all ended well.
2020 – Bella laid two eggs on Feb 17 & 20, the eaglets hatched on March 25 & 27. Incredibly, the oldest eaglet at two days of age crawled to the edge of the nest and fell into a hole (crevasse) and died. Elementary students named the eaglets Leia E3 and Ozzy E4 The remaining eaglet Ozzy thrived and fledged at . We had better luck with the cam this year and we last saw Ozzy on August 5, safe travels Ozzy.
2021 – Bella laid two eggs, Feb 11 & 14, both eggs hatched on March 20 & 22. Local elementary students named the eaglets Talon and Spirit. The youngsters both fledged at 11 weeks of age. When Talon returned to the tree after fledging, he hung upside down for a few minutes before returning to the nest. It was a wonderful season watching these two kids mature, fledge and venture out into the world. There are many videos to watch on the NCTC Bald Eagle family.
2022 – In January, the birds spent lots of time at the nest, doing repairs and bonding at the nest. Unfortunately, there was several intrusions into their territory I recorded several videos on these events. Despite the intrusions Bella and Shep/Smitty kept busy, working on the nest and there was frequent mating on and off the nest.
On January 31, 2022 a mature adult eagle dive bombed Shep/ Smitty and attempted to land on the nest. Luckily Shep/Smitty was able to keep the intruder off the nest. Bella was absent at the nest.
Sadly, on Feb 1, 2022, Bella landed on the nest with fresh and old blood smears, stains on her neck/head feathers. Bella appeared to have some old blood and scarred areas around her eyes, she certainly looked like she had been in a fight. Despite Bella's horrible appearance she did appear to have pretty good mobility although we do not know the extent of her injuries. Unfortunately, Bella has not been back to the nest since Feb 1, 2022 raising concern for her well being.
Feb 2, 2022
A new mature female has been visiting the nest. The young female is readily recognizable as she has a few dark feathers blended in with her white tail feathers; she also has a bubble like ridge or bump on her beak near the cere/nare area. The new female has visited the nest and has bonded with Shep/Smitty. Shep/ seems tolerant of the new female but displays reluctance too.
Feb 5, 2022
Still no sign of Bella, we continue to hold out hope that she is healing and will return to her nest. Shep/ Smitty spends time alone on the nest watching and likely waiting for his Lady Bella to return to the nest. The new female continues to visit the nest; mating/bonding has occurred.
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