Webcam witness to bald eagles hatching at New Jersey Duke estate

When bald eagles are ready to nest they search out undisturbed woodlands near water -- which may be why one pair decided to settle down in a cozy corner of the notoriously private Duke Farms spread in Hillsborough.

After employees on the farm, formerly the New Jersey estate of tobacco heiress Doris Duke, spotted the rare birds, a Webcam was installed to provide researchers with an opportunity to monitor them without disturbing them. What it caught was the creation of a family.

Three eggs appeared in the nest, and the first eaglet was spotted in at 9 a.m. on Monday. The second was seen Wednesday. The third egg is expected to hatch at any moment, Duke Farms representatives said yesterday.

Duke Farms, now operated by the Duke Foundation as a wildlife refuge, collaborated with a non-profit conservation group to install the Webcam and has decided make it available to the public. The babies can be viewed at http://www.dukefarms.org/page.asp?pageId=565.

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Tiffani Garlic, The Star-Ledger