The Southwest Florida Eagle Cam (SWFEC) is a website and YouTube channel featuring live streaming webcams trained on a bald eagle nest, which sits 60 feet above the ground, in a slash pine tree in North Fort Myers, Florida. Live streaming, accompanied by explanatory commentary, shows the parent eagles and their family as they build and restore the nest, mate, lay eggs, and challenge the natural elements and predators in the area. SWFEC achieved a technological "world first" with its installation, in 2016, of a spherical virtual reality-enabled camera offering an immersive, interactive nature experience.
The website launched in September 2012 with one camera, set up by the Pritchett family, natives of southwest Florida, on the property of Dick Pritchett Real Estate. The aim was to let the viewing public observe the eagles in their natural habitat while getting an educational and learning experience. Today, the SWFEC has four cameras, monitored by dedicated volunteers, and is one of the most popular among dozens of bald-eagle nest webcam sites across America. Between 2012 and 2025, the SWFEC has received over 350 million views from more than 190 countries.
Nest This nest was labeled LE026-B of the Florida State Monitoring Program. It was monitored by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) for six years. The first year was when the nest was across the street in 2007. The pair relocated the nest in 2006–2007 to its present location. The FWC officially stopped its intensive bald eagle monitoring program after the species' population recovered sufficiently to be removed from both the federal and state endangered species lists in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Since 2009, the volunteer-based Audubon EagleWatch program has become the primary source of ongoing, on-the-ground nest monitoring in Florida.
The bald eagle builds the largest nest of any North American bird. A typical bald eagle nest (or eyrie) is around five feet in diameter. Eagles often use the same nest year after year. Over the years, some nests become enormous, over eight feet in diameter, weighing more than a ton. A record-sized nest in St. Petersburg, Florida, was 9.5 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall. The SWFEC nest is approximately eight feet in diameter and a short one-mile flight away from the Caloosahatchee River, which serves as their primary food source; a pond on the property serves as an additional source. The eagles rely mostly on fish from the river (Mullet, Catfish, Red Fish, Snook, Gar), but may also eat small rodents, such as squirrels, if the opportunity presents itself.
According to the FWC, which tracked bald eagle nests at the time when the SWFEC nest was home to its most famous residents, M15 and Harriet, the pair had 133 neighbors in a 25-mile radius; their closest neighbor was one mile away.
Cameras To preserve the natural habitat of the eagles, the first nest-viewing camera was positioned six feet above the nest, attached to a tree limb, using no screws or nails. The noiseless camera also uses night vision (infrared light), allowing viewers to see eagles at night without disturbing them. Since the second season, an additional overhead, or approach, camera has provided a wider view of the area. Two more cameras have been added during later seasons.
Currently, the four cameras are located as follows: Cam 1: nest-viewing camera, positioned seven feet above the nest; faces South East. Cam 2: located at nest level, capturing the side-view action; faces North East. Cam 3: a 360-degree camera that provides a spherical view of the nest and its surroundings; installed in 2016, it was the world's first spherical-view camera to broadcast a live stream using virtual reality technology for an immersive, interactive nature experience. The camera can be controlled by viewers using their mouse (desktop) or fingers (mobile) to click and drag; it can also be viewed and controlled via a virtual reality headset. Cam 4: installed across the pond to capture activity in the pond area and around the nearby horse pasture.
Volunteers monitoring the cameras have worked with wildlife officials and local biologists to ensure the eagle’s safety and will not interfere with or intervene in any natural events in the nest. Extreme medical emergencies are handled by veterinary professionals.
The cameras stream live via the SWFEC website and YouTube channel.
How individual eagles are identified Male and female eagles are easily distinguishable: female bald eagles are noticeably larger than their male counterparts, a phenomenon called reversed sexual dimorphism. Individual eagles are distinguished from each other by "field marks" such as the size and line of the beak, the size of eye-rings, unique color patches, and posture, as well as behavioral cues and flight patterns.
Widespread naming convention used by moderators and dedicated viewers of eagle nest webcams for monitoring purposes is: E with a sequential number (indicating its order of hatch within the recording history, e.g., E19) for eaglet; F with a sequential number (the year when it was first observed, e.g., F23) for adult resident female eagle, and M with a sequential number (the year when it was first observed, e.g., M15) for adult resident male eagle. Designations like MV (male visitor) or FV (female visitor) are used for non-resident eagles that appear at the nest temporarily. The use of these structured alphanumeric identifiers helps chronicle the eagles' lives accurately and consistently across seasons and different platforms.
Anthropomorphizing the wild eagles with human names is usually reserved for birds with unique characteristics or unusual histories.
Harriet and Ozzie Bald eagles can live up to 30 years in the wild, reaching reproductive maturity at 4 to 5 years of age. They form lifelong pairs but will find a new partner if their original mate dies, often staying in the same territory and nest. During breeding season, bald eagles typically defend their territories from other birds of prey, as well as ravens, foxes, coyotes, and other intruders.
Harriet and Ozzie were named by the landowners and area birdwatchers who fell in love with the duo from a distance. Their names are based on the American sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. The pair nested in the Pritchett pine tree from 2006 to Ozzie's death in 2015, following a fight with another eagle. After having re-mated and raised eaglets with a new mate, M15, for eight more seasons, Harriet disappeared in February 2023. She was last seen vocalizing at intruders in the area. Her sudden vanishing shocked both the local and the online communities. Local news coverage was extensive. For weeks, volunteer search parties scoured the area for signs of her, but no trace was ever found. In May 2023, a memorial plaque for Harriet was installed on the fence of the nearby Church of the Nazarene. On anniversaries of Harriet's disappearance, SWFEC viewership and local media have continued to publish remembrances, treating Harriet as a regional cultural icon. As of 2025, her memorial plaque has remained at the site, next to plaques for her first mate, Ozzie, and several past eaglets.
A children's book, Ozzie and Harriet Build a Nest, was published in 2016.
Nesting season history In warmer regions like Florida, the nesting season for bald eagles is from October to May. The average egg incubation period for bald eagles is 34 to 36 days. Parents take turns incubating the eggs, turning them about once an hour to ensure the consistent warmth required for embryos to develop, until they sense movement and the chick begins to scratch its way out. Once the chick begins breathing, it produces soft calls that the adults can hear. The entire hatching process, from the first crack (pip) to full emergence, typically takes 24 to 48 hours.
While cameras were not set up to watch the activity before 2012, the following activity has been documented about the six initial nesting seasons:
Complete Nest Notes for all seasons starting February 13, 2013, are available on the SWFEC website and Facebook page. Informative online chats, as well as archived footage and screenshots with explanatory commentary, are also available via YouTube and Instagram. Below is a summary.
2012/2013 Season
The 2012–2013 season marked the first year the nest was streamed live. Over 16 million viewers tuned in to watch Harriet and Ozzie raise their two eaglets from birth to fledge. The eaglets were named Hope and Honor, the only ones to be named individually.
Hope/E1 Egg laid: November 26, 2012, 1:47 pm Hatched: January 1, 2013, at 10:44 pm (day 36) Fledged: March 25, 2013, at 7:51 am (day 83) Last seen: May 9, 2013, at 8:35 pm (day 128, 45 days after fledging)
Honor/E2 Egg laid: November 29, 2012, 6:38 pm Hatched: January 3, 2013, at 9:49 pm (day 35) Fledged: March 25, 2013, at 8:23 am (day 81) Last seen: May 16, 2013, at 8:45 am (day 133, 52 days after fledging)
2013/2014 Season
The 2013–2014 season brought many challenges to both the viewers and the eagles. Ozzie & Harriet returned to the nest in October and laid two eggs in November.
E3 Egg laid: November 17, 2013, 4:37 pm Hatched: December 23, 2013, at 11:46 pm (day 36) E3 died February 2, 2014, at 4:53 am due to unknown causes (day 41)
E4 Egg laid: November 20, 2013, 6:18 pm Hatched: December 25, 2013, at 10:21 am (day 35) Fledged: April 4, 2014, at 8:27 am (day 100) Last seen: May 8, 2014, at 7:00 am (day 134, 34 days after fledging)
2014/2015 Season
The 2014–2015 season marked the third year the nest was streamed live, this time with two high-definition cameras. Ozzie and Harriet returned to the nest in October and laid two eggs in November.
E5 Egg laid: November 19, 2014 Hatched: December 26, 2014 (day 37) E5 died January 20, 2015, at 10:15 pm due to unknown causes (day 25)
E6 Egg laid: November 22, 2014 Hatched: December 27, 2014 (day 35) Fledged: March 23, 2015 (day 86) Last seen: May 4, 2015, at 10:36 am (day 128, 42 days after fledging)
On March 17, 2015, Ozzie was found by FWC officials and taken to the Clinic for Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) for evaluation after showing signs of disorientation and injury. After 97 days of care to recover from a broken left clavicle and a broken left coracoid bone, Ozzie was released back into the wild near the nest. On Saturday, September 19, Ozzie made an appearance at the nest. On September 27, after being seen fighting with a male eagle in the area, Ozzie was found injured and again admitted back into CROW's care. On Tuesday, September 29, 2015, Ozzie died.
2015/2016 Season
The 2015–2016 season was a season of many firsts for Harriet and her new mate, M15. After Ozzie's death, Harriet spent a few weeks courting possible new mates but eventually bonded with M15, laying two eggs.
E7 Egg laid: December 19, 2015, at 4:25 pm Hatched: January 26, 2016, at 7:23 am (day 38) Fledged: April 16, 2016 (day 81) Last seen: May 24, 2016, at 10:30 am (day 119, 38 days after fledging)
E8 Egg laid: December 22, 2015, at 5:40 pm Hatched: January 27, 2016, at 10:39 pm (day 36) Fledged: May 3, 2016 (day 97) Last seen: upon release by CROW after rehabilitation, August 18, 2016 (day 194, 97 days after fledging)