One of Berry College's most famous eagle families just welcomed a new baby.
Two eggs were laid on Jan. 3 and Jan. 7. The general incubation period for bald eagles is between 33 and 37 days, which means the eggs were expected to hatch in early-to-mid February. Officials confirmed that one egg had successfully hatched sometime Saturday morning.
The pair nest in a tall pine tree on the college's main campus near the school's main entrance. The eagles -- which the school has purposefully chosen not to name -- arrived on campus in 2012. Since then, they have produced seven eaglets -- two each in 2013, 2015 and 2016, along with one in 2014.
Of the eagle pair, the male is the smaller one. Observers at Berry College describe him as having a sleek white head. They say the female is larger with ruffled feathers on her head.
Officials at Berry College said they had initially planned to build a stadium and other facilities in the area where the eagle's nest is located. Once the eagles arrived however, officials decided to move the site of the new facilities out of deference to the eagle's habitat.
While viewers will generally see only one of the eagles on the nest at any given point in time, the other eagle is generally close by, hunting or keeping an eye out for potential predators. Overall, this is not a problem, but in February 2014, the mother eagle was actually attacked while on the nest by a great horned owl. Video of the attack was streamed as the mother eagle defended her unhatched eggs against the attack.
