Eagle survives lightning strike to its nest in Colorado. See ‘extraordinary’ video
An incredible display of nature’s power was captured on video when lightning struck a bald eagle’s nest in Colorado — and the eagle survived.
The moment was recorded on a field research camera at the Carolyn Holmberg Preserve at Rock Creek Farm in Boulder in August and began making the rounds on social media on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
It shows a bald eagle and a red-tailed hawk perched on a cottonwood tree near the eagle’s nest. Then suddenly, a burst of bright lightning descends from the sky, blasts the nest to smithereens and knocks the birds unconscious, leaving them dangling upside down from the tree’s branches.
Dana Bove, lead researcher at Front Range Eagle Studies, narrates the video, describing how the birds were momentarily stunned as they hung upside down and then fell down to lower branches before coming to and trying to right themselves.
The group studies bald eagles along the front range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and has been monitoring the adult female’s mate in particular for about a decade.
“The lightning strike at the Stearns nest was indeed an extraordinary event — it’s not something we’ve seen before, and the survival of the eagle is nothing short of remarkable,” Bove told McClatchy News in an email.
And “while the visual story of the lightning strike is captivating,” it’s “also a crucial opportunity to shed light on the broader challenges the Stearns eagles and others in the rapidly developing Front Range face,” he said.
“The incident really underscores just how fragile their survival can be, especially given the increasing pressure on their habitat and prey sources,” he said.
Ongoing development in the area has forced the birds to abandon their nest several times, Bove said. The eagles finally settled in a new area with hundreds of acres of open space that houses their main source of prey — prairie dogs.
But now that is in jeopardy to make way for new development again, Bove said. The eagles also must find a new tree to nest in after the lightning strike.
Boulder County Open Space will close a trail in the preserve on Oct. 15 to give the couple the time and quiet they need to rebuild near the exploded nest, the Colorado Sun reported.
The pair’s eaglet already fledged and went off on its own months ago, but the blast put the empty nesters behind schedule for next spring, the outlet reported.
Bove and the research group want more support to help the eagles rebuild so the federally protected species can thrive for years to come. Specifically, the group is fighting to protect the prairie dog habitat where eagles and other nesting raptors hunt in the Rock Creek corridor and near Stearns Lake.
“Make it open space, preserve what’s there — a tiny slice of what’s left of what used to be called Raptor Alley,” Bove said. “Maybe we can do something nice for them.”
Stearns Lake is about a 20-mile drive northwest of Denver.
This story was originally published October 11, 2024 at 9:21 AM with the headline "Eagle survives lightning strike to its nest in Colorado. See ‘extraordinary’ video."
