Nine bald eagle nests are under watch on Sanibel and Captiva this season

Volunteers are watching nine bald eagle nests across Sanibel, Captiva and North Captiva this season, and not one of those nests has an egg in it yet. The season runs through May 15, so the interesting part is still ahead. If you are coming for the birds, both facts matter: the eagles are being counted right now, and the habitat work behind them is under construction.

Five nests on Sanibel, three on Captiva, one on North Captiva

Of the nine bald eagle nests SCCF volunteers are monitoring this season, five are on Sanibel, three are on Captiva and one is on North Captiva. Last season, the nests those volunteers watched fledged 13 eaglets. This time around, no eggs have been reported in the monitored nests so far.

One detail worth knowing if you keep a life list: a Captiva bald eagle pair has been observed modifying an osprey nest on Sanibel. That is exactly the kind of movement the volunteer network exists to catch.

The Window to Wildlife Captiva eagle cam has been taken down, so if you were picturing a live feed from your laptop, there isn't one this season. What there is instead is a paper trail: observations from SCCF's eagle monitoring are shared with Audubon Florida's EagleWatch program, a statewide network of 750 volunteers that keeps tabs on more than 1,200 bald eagle nests. Eagle questions and sightings can be emailed to eagles@sccf.org.

The mangrove connection

The same organization doing the eagle count is building a mangrove nursery, with construction planned through the fall and winter and support from the Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club. The nursery will have room for growing red, black and white mangroves, plus pools for raising hardier plants destined for tougher restoration sites. It will also include space to host students and field trips.

Skye McDonald Newman, SCCF's community conservation coordinator, runs the Adopt-a-Mangrove program, and she said the nursery gives it a central hub for everything the program does. According to McDonald Newman, mangroves reduce wave impact, provide habitat for juvenile fish and help shorelines recover between storms in Southwest Florida. She has also said the Adopt-a-Mangrove plants are simple to care for and, according to program volunteers, difficult to kill because they cannot be over-watered.

Bob Moore, who chairs the SanCap Resilience Coalition, is participating in Adopt-a-Mangrove for his third year. He said nature-based shoreline solutions are critical to the island's resilience and encouraged people to adopt mangroves and get involved.

Allie Pecenka said recording the episode at the mangrove nursery was the best setting for discussing the project, and she recalled that the first mangrove she planted on the rookery islands looked small at planting time but could one day protect future generations.

What this means for your trip

For a birding visitor, the shape of the season matters more than the raw numbers. Five of the monitored nests sit on Sanibel and three on Captiva, so an eagle sighting anywhere on the islands is possible through May 15, just not something you can plan an afternoon around, especially with no eggs reported yet. The eagle cam is down, which means the birds have to be seen in person or not at all.

The nursery is a different kind of access point. It is being built out during the fall and winter, so there is nothing to visit yet, and no public opening has been announced. What a visitor can do today is adopt a mangrove: the program is open to individuals, schools and businesses, and sign-ups run through the Point volunteer app or a search for 'SCCF Volunteer' online.

When and where

Bald eagle nesting season on Sanibel, Captiva and North Captiva runs through May 15, 2027. The nine monitored nests break down as five on Sanibel, three on Captiva and one on North Captiva. SCCF's mangrove nursery is being built out during the fall and winter; no public opening date has been announced.

Before you go

Save eagles@sccf.org in your phone before you arrive; that is the address for eagle questions and sightings. If you want to take part rather than watch, Adopt-a-Mangrove sign-ups go through the Point volunteer app or a search for 'SCCF Volunteer' online. And manage expectations at the lookout: with no eggs in the monitored nests yet, eaglets are a maybe, not a promise.

Make a morning of it

Eagle-watching here is a bonus, not the main event. The dependable birding happens at Ding Darling, where the Wildlife Drive is the island's most concentrated route for waders and other birds, and our birding guide covers what turns up when. For the wider picture, from the refuge to the shoreline the mangroves are meant to protect, start with our nature and wildlife hub. If you would rather be on the water than on the trail, Tarpon Bay Explorers is the wildlife-oriented option.

Why the count is bigger than nine nests

Nine nests sounds small until you see where the data goes. Everything SCCF's eagle monitors record is shared with Audubon Florida's EagleWatch program, which is built on 750 volunteers and tracks more than 1,200 bald eagle nests statewide. The islands' nests are one node in that network, and last season's 13 fledged eaglets are the baseline this year's volunteers are working from.