Young Bald Eagle Takes First Flight At Duke Farms: Video

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — One of the two bald eaglets at Duke Farms in Hillsborough has taken its first flight, which was captured on video. (See the video below)

The older of the two chicks, called "H45" based on its band number, fledged at 7:10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 22, according to other observers, said Charles Barreca with Duke Farms.

"This is the older eaglet in the nest and it makes sense that it would have fledged first," said Barreca to Patch.

Over the past week, both H45 and H44 (the younger chick) were seen moving far out on the branches around the nest and H45 was hopping up and down from the nest to the tree many times in short spurts of flight and flapping.

In the clip below or click here, H45 brushes H44 briefly with its wing before taking off.

Two eggs were laid in 2024 at the nature preserve at 1112 Dukes Pkwy W in Hillsborough. The first bald eagle egg of 2024 was laid at 3:48 p.m. Jan. 22, and the second egg arrived at 3:36 p.m. Jan. 25.

The first chick hatched around 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 29. The second chick hatched around 7:30 p.m. on March 1.

Duke Farms has a live 24-hour eagle cam set up about the nest to allow bird enthusiasts to catch a glimpse of the eagle family at dukefarms.org/eaglecam.

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