Mrs. Jefferson & Isaiah

Meet Dollywood Bald Eagle Nesting Pair: Mrs. Jefferson & Isaiah 

In Partnership with the American Eagle Foundation • Powered by HDOnTap

 

Welcome to the 2019 Nesting Season! 

 

‘Isaiah’ and ‘Mrs. Jefferson’ are permanently disabled, non-releasable Bald Eagles that were transferred to the American Eagle Foundation in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to be forever cared for. They currently reside at the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary at Dollywood. 

At Dollywood (Pigeon Forge, TN) guests can stroll along the edge of Eagle Mountain Sanctuary, where they will see the largest exhibit of non-releasable Bald Eagles in the United States. The Bald Eagles residing within Eagle Mountain Sanctuary are all permanently disabled and would not be able to survive in the wild. This 400,000 cubic-foot aviary houses two Bald Eagle nesting pairs in separate breeding enclosures, as well as about a dozen other non-mated, co-habitating eagles, all cared for the non-profit American Eagle Foundation.

Eaglets hatched and raised at Eagle Mountain Sanctuary are transferred to the AEF’s hacking tower at about 6–7 weeks of age where they will acclimate to a wild, natural setting into which they will be released at fledging age.

They have hatched and raised numerous young as a part of the AEF’s Captive Breeding and Hacking programs. Mrs. Jefferson laid her first egg in 2012, and both parents participated in the successful rearing of an Eaglet, which was later released into the wild in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains on Douglas Lake.

Both of these Eagles were originally placed in the ‘Pick-a-Mate’ section of Eagle Mountain Sanctuary at Dollywood—Isaiah in 1991 and Mrs. Jefferson in 2000.

In 2011, AEF staff noticed nesting activity in the Pick-a-Mate enclosure, but at first the two eagles could not be positively identified. After closer observation, it was noticed that one eagle had only one eye, and was identified as Isaiah. Using binoculars, a staff member tried to positively identify the female that was with Isaiah, and dark markings under the eyes, along with two leg bands, tentatively identified her as Mrs. Jefferson.

In November 2011 during the annual physicals given to the eagles in Eagle Mountain Sanctuary, the last bird to be examined was the female that had been seen with Isaiah. Positive identification was made. Mrs. Jefferson and Isaiah were given their own nest and placed into a private enclosure in Eagle Mountain Sanctuary.

In 2014, this pair was featured on the AEF’s Live Nest Cam Program. On camera, viewers could tell the pair apart by the fact that Isaiah is actually missing an eye, whereas Mrs. Jefferson has both eyes, but can only see out of one.

Mrs. Jefferson & Isaiah successfully raised their 16th eaglet this season. The eagle was named Sequoyah by Eagle Nest Cam Education & Policy Coordinator Crystal Slusher, in honor of her Mom, Mae Shiflett, who recently passed. Sequoyah weighed 8.59 pounds when released from AEF’s Hack Tower on Douglas Lake July 18, 2018, and was wearing Patagial tag M18. We cannot be absolutely certain as to Sequoyah’s sex, as no blood sample was taken, but measurements strongly suggest a male. Sequoyah was eager to leave the enclosure, and soared beautifully out of the gate before the bars had fully raised. Making a beautiful first flight, Sequoyah landed safely in a tree. 

For more information please visit www.dweaglecams.org

 

Mrs. Jefferson: 

Mrs. Jefferson is a female bald eagle and was born in 1989, which makes her 30 years old. 

Mrs. Jefferson was found standing,but not moving, on a river bank in 2000 by canoers. The canoers captured her and transported her in the canoe with them—a very risky decision on the part of the canoers, as Bald Eagles can be very aggressive. Suffice it to say, they managed to get her to stay in the canoe and bring it (and her) safely to shore.

She was examined, and seemed to be favoring her left wing and left leg. Nothing was broken, but there might have been nerve damage. She was found to be blind in her left eye, resulting from an old injury that might have occurred if she hit the water wrong while diving for a fish.

Since she was blind in one eye, she was deemed non-releasable. She also had an injury to the hallux (back toe) that required its removal. Full use of their feet is necessary for an eagle to be able to catch fish and other prey. Mrs. Jefferson was then put in Eagle Mountain Sanctuary at Dollywood Entertainment Park in Pigeon Forge, TN in hopes that she would select a mate. If that happened, and if young resulted from the mating, the offspring would be released into the wild.

 

Isaiah: 

Isaiah is a male bald eagle and was born in 1988, which makes him 31 years old. Isaiah is missing one eye. 

Isaiah is a male Bald Eagle from Missouri that was injured by a shotgun in 1988. One of the pellets destroyed his left eye. He has all of his flight capabilities, but is missing his left eye. Isaiah arrived at the American Eagle Foundation’s education, breeding and rehabilitation center in Pigeon Forge, TN in 1991.

Since Bald Eagles are predators and rely on keen vision for hunting, he would find it difficult to catch prey and survive in the wild. Isaiah was placed in “Eagle Mountain Sanctuary” Pick-a-Mate section at Dollywood in hopes that he would select a mate and raise young that could then be released into the wild.

 

 

 

2019 Season History

Summary: TBD!

• January 14, 2019 - Cameras went live 

 

2018 Season History

Summary: 3 eggs laid, 1 hatch, 1 release

• March 2, 2018 - First egg laid
• March 6, 2018 - Second egg laid
• March 10, 2018 - Third egg laid 
• April 15, 2018 - First egg hatched 
• June 11, 2018 - Eaglet "Sequoyah" (MJ16) taken to Hack Tower  
• July 18, 2018 - Sequoyah successfully released into wild (watch clip)

 

 

These community guidelines will provide a practical and ethical guide for using HDOnTap.com as well as set forth HDOnTap's official policies on acceptable community behavior and community rules. Guidelines may be updated from time to time. By reading, posting and participating in the HDOnTap community, you agree to abide by these community guidelines.

Comments on the HDOnTap.com website are facilitated through Spot.IM - user support for Spot.IM is available by emailing support@spot.im and is not directly provided by HDOnTap. Users are required, to create a Spot.IM account in order to post comments. Posts that fail automatic moderation (see more on this below) are subject to moderator review prior to being posted and may be subject to up to a two-day delay.

General Rules and Guidelines

• Keep your comments focused on the topic at hand.
• Be polite and remember the "Golden Rule".
• No spamming, baiting or trolling.
• Limit personal information.
• Comments can be removed at the discretion of the moderators.
• Users can be banned at the discretion of the moderators.

Publishing Guidelines

You may only have one account per person. Multiple accounts for the same person will be removed and the originating IP Address may be blacklisted.

Please keep posts on topic. With regard to nest cams specifically, information on other nests may be limited or removed, especially when the featured nest is active. This is to limit confusion for community members and is at the sole discretion of HDOnTap staff and Live Cam Ambassadors.

Content that falls under the following is subject to immediate removal and potential user ban. Please note that this list is not exclusive and all moderation is at the ultimate discretion of HDOnTap.

• Profane, defamatory, offensive or violent language
• Trolling, impersonation or posting deliberately disruptive statements meant to hijack comment threads or throw discussions off track
• Attacks on specific groups or any comments meant to harass, threaten or abuse an individual
• Hateful or discriminatory comments regarding race, ethnicity, religion,  gender, disability, sexual orientation or political beliefs
• Links or comments containing sexually explicit content
• Spam or link baiting
• Acknowledgment of intent to stalk an individual, or collect or publish private information without disclosure
• Commercial solicitations
• Violations of copyright or intellectual property rights
• Content that relates to confidential  or proprietary business information
• Content determined to be inappropriate, in poor taste, or otherwise contrary to the purposes of this community

Banned users who attempt to circumvent their ban status may be subject to a complete IP ban and inability to access the HDOnTap website. Additionally, non-banned users are prohibited from posting on a banned user's behalf, and are subject to ban as a result.

On occasion, legitimate posts may fail automatic moderation and be marked as "Spam". When this occurs, the post will not be visible until it is manually moderated (subject to a 2-day delay). Users are encouraged to consider the following best practices to avoid the moderation queue:

• Avoid posting in all caps or with excessive capitalization
• Avoid posting with excessive punctuation
• Avoid rapid, repetetive posts of a similar or identical nature

Moderators and Moderation

HDOnTap.com is moderated by HDOnTap staff as well as appointed Live Cam Ambassadors. All moderators will be identified as such next to their display name. 

Moderators will use their best judgment to apply these guidelines in a fair way and moderate activities appropriately to ensure the overall health of the HDOnTap community. Moderators may not have the time or inclination to explain their moderation decisions and are under no obligations to do so. Any activity, comments, posts or other interaction that you may have with this community may be moderated, with or without explanation. Moderators have the final decision on what is and isn't acceptable use of this community.

Community members may also flag posts if they believe something may be in violation of our Community Guidelines. Once a post has been flagged, it will be reviewed by the moderation team. If a post has received multiple flags, it may be temporarily removed from the comments stream pending review.

Advertising, self-promotion and repeated posts of the same content - even a well thought out comment - are all considered spam and are subject to removal.

If you are not sure if something you want to post will breach community guidelines or in the event that you have a disagreement with a moderator, please contact info@hdontap.com. Please note that response to inquiries of this kind are at the discretion of HDOnTap.

Last Edited on 2018-3-10

Issues with Live Streaming

• We're sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue! Please follow our troubleshooting tips for buffering or other stream issues.

• If your issue is not resolved by following the troubleshooting tips above, please click here to submit a speed test and support ticket.

Issues with commenting/Spot.IM

• Get support for issues with comments (including log in issues) by emailing support@spot.im.

• Report an issue with another viewer by hovering over their post and clicking the down-arrow on the right, then selecting "Report". You may also report by creating a comment and tagging "@hdontap" to notify us directly.

Viewer Feedback

• We greatly value feedback from our viewers! We encourage you to fill out our Viewer Feedback Form to help us deliver the best viewing experience.