LIVE VIDEO: Majestic birds a click away on 'eagle-cam'

For more than a decade, a pair of bald eagles has nested in a secluded part of Richmond where the public couldn't see the majestic birds.

This year is different.

Beginning today, you can follow the eagles on the Web. If all goes well for the birds, you can watch them arrange their nest, tend their eggs, feed their chicks and encourage the youngsters to make their first flights.

You might even see a fight or two.

The Center for Conservation Biology and the Richmond Times-Dispatch are teaming up to provide the coverage from an "eagle-cam" above the nest.

This high-tech eagle eye is part of a research project for the center, which is part of Virginia Commonwealth University and the College of William and Mary.

The effort also aims to show people how the wild world works, shedding light on scenes that could be beautiful or bloody.

"The main thing is to try to get the general public more in touch with the natural environment that we're living in," said Bryan Watts, an eagle expert and director of the conservation center.

The sophisticated camera provides constant coverage, including night views. Experts at remote computers zoom in or tilt the camera for the best views. There is also sound.

The nest is on private property near the James River, where the birds catch fish to eat. To protect the owner's privacy, The Times-Dispatch is not releasing the address or the owner's name.

"I feel very lucky that I get to see the eagles every day," the owner said. "I really care that they are healthy and happy in that nest and that they continue to produce offspring each year."

The eagles began nesting in the mid-1990s on an island in the James. They moved to the shore in 2001. Other eagles have tried to nest in the city, but only this pair has produced offspring — 18 since 2001.

They are big, powerful birds, with wings that span 6 to 7 feet. Their nest is about 5 feet wide and 4 feet deep, lodged about 85 feet up in a loblolly pine.

Eagles typically mate for life. They begin nesting in winter. The Richmond birds are bringing in sticks to fix up their nest for a new brood.

The female, which is bigger than the male and bosses him around, should lay eggs in early to mid-February. Eagles usually lay one to three eggs.

The eggs should hatch in mid-March, and the youngsters should take their first flights in June.

As the James has gotten cleaner, the river's eagle population has soared — from no nests in 1977 to 174 today, mostly downriver from Richmond.

Those birds have produced so many offspring that there are now hundreds of young eagles looking for territories.

With the population climbing, good nest spots are hard to find. So these "floater" birds are increasingly attacking nesting eagles in an effort to move into existing nests.

"They can be fights to the death, or they can put birds down with bloody wounds and drive them off," Watts said.

For example, another eagle pair has unsuccessfully tried to produce chicks the past two winters on an island in the James just west of the Boulevard Bridge. Attacks by other eagles last year interrupted the pair while they were tending eggs, and the eggs never hatched.

The Richmond eagle-cam is part of a conservation center research project that seeks to shed light on these territorial battles.

No one knows what the camera will reveal. The eagles could produce beautiful babies, or a cold rain could kill the eggs, among other potential outcomes.

This is one reality show that's real.