NPR · 8 hours ago

Bald Eagle Nest Cameras Create an Unexpected Online Community

Seventy-five feet up in the trees, bald eagles are raising their young while millions of strangers watch from screens in hospital waiting rooms, offices, and living rooms across the country. People like Gloria Gajownik, 71, who has spent 15 years logging on each evening to watch "mom and dad Decorah" raise their eaglets, finding in the nest cameras something deeper than entertainment: "Between the eagles and the people in the chat rooms, I feel like I have a big … extended family." These devoted viewers track every movement, celebrate hatchings, mourn losses together, and have even saved eaglets by alerting wildlife experts to fishing hooks and falls. What draws them is partly the eagles' resilience -- a species that rebounded from near extinction to over 71,000 nesting pairs -- but mostly it's the recognition of themselves in these monogamous, loyal, fiercely devoted parents who, as one viewer notes, sometimes seem kinder than humans.