Bald Eagle nest in Fort Edward crashed in windstorm; crushing eggs

By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer

A Bald Eagle’s nest high in a tree in Riverside Cemetery in Fort Edward crashed to the ground during the March 17 windstorm. Three eggs inside were smashed, and the nest destroyed.

At the Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting March 20, Chairman Bob Henke of Argyle lamented the loss. He said the eagles had been working on the nest for “almost 15 years.”

Dana Stimpson of Glens Falls captured the sad aftermath the next day in a series of photos after the owner of the house next door told her of the incident.

“It took down a limb from the tree, and the nest with it,” Ms. Stimpson said in a Facebook post.

She went the scene and found “the rubble that had been the nest, and the three eggs, all smashed, with the pitiful remains of eagle embryos beside them.”

She said the neighbor told her that surviving eagles, two adults and a juvenile, had been “flying around and around” the night before “wildly screaming.”

Ms. Stimpson said she saw two eagles perched across the road from where the nest had been.

“Not having any understanding of eagle consciousness, I could only imagine what they were experiencing in that moment,” she said. “To this human heart, it looked like the epitome of grief but, of course, it was most certainly something else. Still, I couldn’t help myself. I was certainly feeling grief.”

Tom Lake, estuary naturalist with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, reacted to the story Ms. Stimpson shared on Facebook.

“The screaming that was heard,” said Mr. Lake, “is common and is largely a response to the upsetting of their world, but they do not mourn, as we know it. Bald Eagles sense a loss, probably more for the nest than the eggs.”

“A nest falling in a storm is not rare or even uncommon,” he said. “If it must happen, and if there is a time of lesser impact on the adult eagles, this was the time. If it occurs when nestlings are in the nest, tragedy ensues.”

Mr. Lake emphasized that Bald Eagles are “resilient,” calling them “the absolute masters of the bounce-back.”

“It is only March,” he said. “It is almost certain that the adult pair will build a new nest. Perhaps in a new spot, but maybe not. I would guess they are already on the job. It will take a month.

“By the end of April, or early May, they could decide to lay another clutch with better luck.”

Mr. Lake noted, “We can be sad, but we can also be hopeful knowing that Eagles have been overcoming nature’s whims long before we were here to feel sad.”

Copyright © 2026 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserve