LEGEND OF Ozzie & Harriet

Soap Opera On Swfl Eagle Cam

WRITTEN BY: BILL LAPLANTE

It Started In A North Fort Myers

HORSE PASTURE. The year was 2012. Some 190 million online visitors on the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam have since viewed the everyday drama of eagle living, the raising of little eagles, fighting with intruders, the cooperation and their diet, their nest home— Hurricane Ian forced a quick rebuild—erected by parent birds just off Bayshore Road.

The sometimes amazing, sometimes violent drama has streamed live from atop a Southern yellow pine in an open field. The nest and the resting birds on nearby branches are clearly visible. This living history of animal ancestry, not unlike a live soap opera, is possible with a tree camera provided by the Pritchett family of North Fort Myers.

Angling into the nest, the camera shows us what the symbol of freedom, the American bald eagle, endures as an apex predator—surviving, even the simple tasks of mundane life.

Drama … you bet!

Life, death, destruction, resurgence, care and feeding young eaglets had all been chronicled live and moment to moment in the sparse branches seven stories up. We watch the sometimes-crazy drama on our screens. Others watch through a camera lens or binoculars along the fence line off Bayshore Road.

The drama began when Ginnie Pritchett McSpadden and family (her brother and her dad, Richard Pritchett, are Realtors and Lee County, Florida, businesspeople) walked through the boarding horse pasture one day and saw two folks standing in the field taking photos of what appeared as a vacant tree.

Closer perusal produced a sight right out of 1960s TV show, Mutual of Omaha's “Wild Kingdom.” Two American bald eagles had built a nest 1some three feet round of twigs and vegetation gathered from around the flat fields on the Pritchett property. This would become home to a series of nearly two dozen (as of this writing) hatchlings, each surviving three months of rain and heat, cool days and family theater before testing their wings and starting their own lives.

Ginnie says that “we started out with 10 (eagle-cam) viewers, all family members, then a hundred, thousands, hundreds of thousands and totaling 190 million.”

This tableau of daily eagle life and death streams worldwide. Viewers had seen eggs hatch, eaglets being fed by momma Harriet and their daddies, first Ozzie, then his younger successor M-15. Seems the younger male pushed aging Oz from the nest one evening in what can most accurately be called survival of the fittest.

Hello, Harriet?!

Then one day the grand dame of eagle cam, as the world has come to know this daily dishing of aerial antics, was last seen vocalizing after intruders or possibly went shopping, presumably for food to feed her two latest hatchlings. Harriet had never been gone more than six hours, Ginnie McSpadden says. She was not seen again.

Yes, people know and care about what happens next. One afternoon during a session at my clinic miles from the nest folks overheard me discussing this story. Several wanted to know, in clearly concerned tones, “where is she, where’s Harriett? How are the two hatchlings doing?”

At nearly 30 years old, like 90-plus in human years, one might imagine, the matriarch of the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam had vanished. A younger female had been approaching the nest in a matronly manner. Rogue-23-3 they call her, she is likely not a mother but displays the instincts of one, eagle experts insist.

Poppa M-15 had been playing mom and dad to the two eaglets in Harriett’s absence, now measured in months. The wee ones were mere weeks from their first flight, as the cycle of life continued.

Once Harriet was gone, M-15 did his best protecting the young from intruders. At first he was scared to leave eaglets alone. He would hunt right around the nest to make sure he could defend the eaglets. The three middle photos show how much the eaglets have grown over the months to the point of getting ready to fledge the nest.

Harriet was truly an iconic Southwest Florida Eagle. People from around the world left messages of hope and sorrows on the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam, Meta page. She will be forever missed.

‘We miss you, Harriet’

Ginnie Pritchett McSpadden, the mother of two young children with her husband David, spends 20 hours weekly keeping SWFL Eagle Cam up and running. She’s also written a couple of children’s books, including “Harriet’s Next Adventure.”

Harriet, you were the perfect mom mate. If I never see you again, I will remember you in my heart. I had such high hopes that you would return. You would be so proud of the role M15 has taken to take care of your little ones. Fly high and free wherever you are!

—Brenda Myers

Which might be foreshadowing for real-life events in the field which holds the nesting tree for M-15 without the family matriarch, Harriet.

Several days after Harriet’s disappearance a woman in a Philadelphia Eagles football jacket approached the wooden fence surrounding the pasture and tacked a home sign on it — “We miss you, Harriet,” it read.

Ginnie Pritchett McSpadden assesses Harriet’s situation practically: “The likelihood of her returning is slim. We have to believe she is no longer with us.” FCM

Harriet, you will be loved and missed forever. You were such a wonderful mate and a mother to all your babies. You taught M15 well, and he has done such a magnificent job of raising your babies. I know he misses you. Forever in our hearts, fly high and free with Ozzie watch over your babies and M15.

—Nancy Baumer

Miss you are beloved Harriet you are now flying high over the rainbow with Ozzie. I will never forget you. You gave me hope through my sad days and you gave me strength through my happiness days. Love you so much.

—Sommer Benveniste

It’s been exactly one month since the last sighting of our beloved Harriet. While we may never know her final resting place; her legacy will continue to grow as we cherish the beautiful moments observed on the cameras and via ground photos over the past 12+ years. We love you Harriet! Forever in our Hearts, Flying High & Free. —Southwest Florida Eagle Cam

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Desiree continues her tradition of photo graphing the eagles on the weekend as she once did with her late husband Gustavo. A special memory she treasures.