‘It’s inspiring’: Live eagle nest camera in Cape Breton gets positive response

The president of Port Morien Wildlife Association speaks about the Bruce and Soogie eagle nest camera in Cape Breton.

On March 30, a Nova Scotia wildlife association set up a camera to livestream the nest of two bald eagles in Gardiner Mines, N.S.

President of the Port Morien Wildlife Association (PMWA) Jeff McNeil says the community response since then has been positive.

“We weren’t so much surprised by the whole community getting behind it,” he said in an interview with CTV Your Morning Atlantic’s Crystal Garrett. “What surprised us is how it touched so many people with the positivity aspect.”

He says people in the world are hurting, and the organization has heard from viewers who reach out to share their stories and express how uplifting it is to see the eagles.

Bruce and Soogie, the two birds of prey and their four-week-old eaglet Helene, are available to watch anytime online. It’s the first setup of its kind in Atlantic Canada.

Soogie, or Nsugwis, is a traditional Mi’kmaq name meaning “my aunt.” Bruce was named after the landowner’s father and Helene was named after a conservationist whose life’s work was the rehabilitation of injured eagles.

Some local schools and daycares are participating in watching the nests and doing projects based on the bald eagles.

“The whole purpose behind this, believe it or not, it’s to get children involved with the life cycle and learning in general about conservation,” said MacNeil. “The stuff the children had done, it’s inspiring, it’s heartfelt, and they’re really grasping what this project was about.”

MacNeil says the project began three years ago in May 2023. The PMWA worked with community partners to remove a net from a bald eagle nest.

“The operation was a success, and as we stood there that day, we imagined a bigger vision,” reads the organization’s website.

“Three years later, here we are,” said MacNeil.

He says they have a GoFundMe set up with the goal of raising $25,000 to increase education initiatives from primary to Grade 12, and potentially some post-secondary schools moving forward.

“So, what we raise there is going towards that, we’re looking at purchasing some hands-on items so that when we do school visits, we have some hands-on learning and visual learning for children moving forward,” he adds.

They have currently raised $2,530.

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