Simone M. Scully

They say it takes a village to raise a child — but in a nest along the Mississippi River, three bald eagles have decided that it takes a trio to raise newly hatched downy eaglets.

Not only did all three eagles — two “dads” and a “mom” — work together to build the nest and incubate the eggs, but they are also taking turns keeping the three eaglets warm, hunting for their food, and protecting them from any potential threats.

In fact, this trio has been together at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge since the fall of 2017. The female (who is easily recognizable because she is much larger than the guys) is named Starr and males are named Valor I and Valor II, with the later being recognizable thanks to a black spot in his left eye. A webcam livestream, set up by the Stewards of the Upper Mississippi River Refuge, is also allowing fans around the world to witness their unusual parenting arrangement.

Cooperative nesting is a very rare sight, not just in this park, but anywhere. In fact, it has only been found in about 3 percent of any avian species, and this bald eagle trio, says Ed Hahn, marketing manager at the National Eagle Center, “is the best-documented occurrence of this that we are aware of among eagles.” While bald eagle trios have been spotted before in Alaska in 1977, in Minnesota in 1983, and in California in 1992, it was unclear if all three eagles were parents or if one was just a “nest helper.” Conversely, thanks to the webcam, both Valor I and Valor II were documented mating with Starr, meaning that it is quite likely that all three are biological parents to the eaglets — though it is difficult to know that for certain.

Either way, the fact that all three adults are working together is actually quite remarkable.

“It’s extremely rare … [because] eagles are extremely territorial and will vigorously defend their nests and territories from intruders,” explains Hahn. “In recent years, there have been documented cases where aggressive eagles will attack a nesting pair, even driving off or killing the male, crushing the eggs and attempting to steal the female for a mate.”

“So for this trio of eagles to be comfortable with the arrangement is astonishing,” he continues. “We really have no explanation for why these eagles are tolerant of each other in the same nest.”

Whatever the reason, the eagles have decided that the arrangement works just fine for them — and the eaglets are benefiting because there is always plenty of food to go around. But what makes this arrangement even more interesting is that it isn’t actually the first trio that Valor I and Valor II have been apart of.

In 2012, Valor I was spotted in a nest with a different female bald eagle named Hope. However, he wasn’t the best partner at that time, and would frequently be irresponsible when it came to incubating the eggs or bringing food back to the nest. This meant that Hope would have to leave the eggs unattended to go out and hunt.

“We’re assuming [Valor I] was young because of his behavior when we watched him,” explains Pam Steinhaus, visitor services manager at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. It’s difficult to know exactly how old bald eagles are once they have a fully white head — and Valor I’s was fully white — but his poor father skills suggested he was probably new to this. And so, while his and Hope’s eggs did hatch that year, both eaglets died before they were old enough to leave the nest.

So the following year, Hope replaced Valor I with Valor II — something that can happen when an eagle pair have an unsuccessful nesting.

“Eagles have the potential to be monogamous, but that is not the absolute rule. If something happens, they will take a new mate without any hesitation,” explains Hahn. “Eagles have a strong “nest site fidelity”, which is to say that they have a stronger bond to the physical nest than to their mate.” So, for example, he continues, “if one of them doesn’t return the following spring, the one that does will take a new mate. If they didn’t have success raising young the previous year, chances are very high they will not pair up again and that they will also abandon the nest.”

However, even though Valor II mated with Hope, Valor I didn’t just give up and leave the nest. He stuck around, hanging out nearby the nest while Valor II and Hope raised two eaglets that fledged — or left the nest — successfully. Valor I isn’t believed to be the father, and he didn’t contribute to raising the eaglets, but he didn’t go too far away. And over the next two years, he was spotted near Hope and Valor II’s nest again and again.

Then, in 2016, cooperative nesting was officially documented by the Stewards: Both Valor I and Valor II were seen mating with Hope and both helped with nest feeding, incubating and feeding duties.

The following year, the trio returned but, shortly after their two eaglets hatched, tragedy struck when Hope was repeatedly and violently attacked by two unknown eagles.

“Hope was in a fierce battle for a long, long time,” says Steinhaus. “More than likely, she was severely injured. We could never find her so we call her MIA… but she never came back, which is very common with wildlife. If they’re injured, they’re going to draw predators away from the nest. And we’re assuming she probably died.”

“But the amazing part is that those two males protected the nest, stuck together, and raised the two young ones to fledge.”

She continues, “So the next year, the question was: what’s going to happen? Is another female going to come? Is she going to accept two males? Are they going to split and then just abandon that nest? We had no idea.”

A new female — Starr — did indeed show up.

Starr was a young eagle, maybe 4-5 years old at the time — she still had some dark feathers on her head — and it was probably her first nesting season. But, Steinhaus says, “the boys accepted her and she accepted them” and the new trio went on to hatch two eggs. About a month in, one eaglet died, but the other went on to fledge.

Then, this year, Star, Valor I and Valor II returned to the same nest and are now raising their three new eaglets.

There’s no guarantee that all three will fledge, even with three parents tending to them. Mortality is very high with young eagles. “Of all eaglets hatched in a given year,” Hahn says, “only 50 percent will survive to their second year, and only 20 percent will survive to adulthood.”

The Stewards are also a little concerned about the nest. “The nest has gotten huge and there’s a lot of weight up there,” explains Steinhaus. “You get these high winds and the tree is in the water now so we get nervous. That tree could just blow right over and there is nothing we could do about it.”

However, so far things in the nest are going well. All three eaglets are very well fed and they look like they’re developing right on schedule. In fact, they are now old enough to hold up their heads for feeding and they’re just a few weeks away from being able to walk and tear up their own food. After that, it hopefully won’t be long before they fledge since, as Hahn explains, “eagles grow quickly. They are as large as their parents at 12 weeks of age and once they take their first flight, the clock begins ticking before the parents leave the nest and the young fend for themselves, typically at 15 – 16 weeks.”

While this trio is unusual, these three eagles are finding a way to care and provide for a new generations of eagles. Only time will tell just how many years these three will share together.