In Shepherds town, West Virginia, a bald eagle is demonstrating the extraordinary lengths mothers go to in order to protect their offspring. Not even being completely covered in snow can deter this eagle mom, affectionately known as Bella, from maintaining the warmth of her eggs.
Bella and her partner, Smutty, have been returning to their nest, located 100 feet high in a towering sycamore tree near the Potomac River, annually since 2011 to raise their young.
“The eagles are amazingly good parents,” Randy Robinson, an instructional systems specialist for the National Conservation Training Center, said on Facebook Live. “They will sit on the eggs night and day, 24/7.”
Although both parents share the responsibility of caring for the eggs, the female eagle tends to occupy the nest approximately 80 percent of the time, while the male is usually responsible for hunting and fishing. Once the eggs are laid, the eagle pair must endure a range of challenging weather conditions, including snow, hail, sleet, and freezing rain. Consequently, even in the face of a severe snowstorm, the mother eagle stands her ground.
As depicted here:
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