Bald eagles usually lay two to three eggs per clutch, yet only one or two typically survive to fledging. Finding more than three eggs is incredibly rare.
Only 12 nests with four eggs have ever been recorded in North America, and just four of those nests were confirmed to have produced four fledglings.
Now, in a new study published in the Journal of Raptor Research, researchers document a fifth case of the rare event – and the first-ever record of four bald eagles fledging a single nest in the US state of Michigan.
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The discovery was made in an area of woodland on the banks of the Grand River near the town of Allendale.
“On 18 May 2025 while banding bald eagles in Ottawa County, Michigan, we found a nest with four nestlings,” say the authors in the study. Just over a month later, the researchers witnessed all four of the birds fledging the nest.
North America’s bald eagle population is recovering following the banning of bounty hunting and the chemicals DDT and PCBs. This, to an extent, may have led to an increase in the raptor’s breeding areas, brood size and brood success across the continent, say the authors. The rise in records of four-nestling broods may also be attributed to these measures, as well as the restoration and protection of bald eagle habitat.
“Alternatively,” add the authors, “increased human activity in eagle habitats and the widespread use of social media may also be contributing to greater detection and reporting of such unusual nesting events.
“The rarity of these occurrences underscores the importance of monitoring bald eagle populations for uncommon reproductive events like these, especially as their populations continue to recover from the use of DDT and more recent events like the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza.”
Find out more about the study.
Top image credit: MRW, via the Journal of Raptor Research.
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