Latest update: (5:07 pm)NORFOLK -- A plane landing at Norfolk International Airport struck and killed an eagle Tuesday morning, and it has been confirmed that it was one of the very popular eagles from the Norfolk Botanical Garden.
Tuesday afternoon, Stephen A. Living, a wildlife biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries confirmed it is indeed one of the nesting pair from the Norfolk Botanical Garden.
These eagles were well known through the Norfolk Botanical Garden Eagle Cam provided by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF), Norfolk Botanical Garden and WVEC, and have been at NBG since 2001 and have been featured on the Eagle Cam on WVEC.com since 2006.
Eagle Cam watcher Linda Eszenyi drove from Northern Virginia in hopes of getting a personal glimpse of the pair and their eaglets.
“They told me and I just had to go have a cry. I was so hurt and disappointed, not for just me but for everybody that watches,” Eszenyi said.
Reese Lukei, a research associate with the Center for Conservation Biology (CCB), has monitored and blogged about these eagles for ten years.
“It’s about like losing one of your kids,” Lukei described.
Moments before the confirmation, Living said "We are fairly certain it's the female from Norfolk Botanical Garden based on the location, the physical characteristics of the eagle and the fact that the female hasn't been seen on the nest since early this morning."
Biologists with the VDGIF, CCB, and the staff at NBG will continue to monitor the nest and are working to ensure the health of the eaglets.
DGIF management and other wildlife experts met Tuesday at the Botanical Garden to discuss the status of the eagle nest and whether the male can meet the needs of the eaglets.
“We are going to be watching this nest very closely over the coming days to see if he is able to provide regular feeding for the chicks,” Lukei stated.
The adult male eagle has been seen in a nearby tree Tuesday afternoon but has not been seen at the nest.
"These eaglets are right on the edge of being able to feed themselves if something is brought to the nest, but we will be watching to see if the male helps them eat. If he doesn't, they will likely have to come out of the nest,"
said Lukei.
Lukei said there are cases of single adult eagles raising broods of young. He added that a decision will be made by Wednesday about what will be done with the three eaglets.
"They had a breakfast this morning, a big catfish, but with these temperatures we're having, if they are not fed eventually, they will become dehydrated," said Lukei.
Lukei said that if the eaglets are removed from the nest, they could be placed in a foster nest or relocated to a wildlife rehab center. A foster nest is a nest with eaglets of the same age. Lukei said this approch has been successful with other birds.
The final decision about the eaglets will be made by the DGIF, which has regulatory authority in Virginia.
The plane strike happened sometime between 8:30 and 8:50 a.m. A US Airways regional jet coming from Philadelphia was preparing to land at 8:50 when the pilot reported the bird strike.
Shank says the eagle was reportedly feeding at Lake Whitehurst with another eagle when the strike was reported.
The plane landed safely and no one was hurt, said Shank. He added that there was minor damage to the aircraft.
Shank told WVEC.com that this is the second eagle strike in several weeks and fourth in 10 years; the others occurring in 2005 and 2001.
Shank said the airport is working with the US Fish and Wildlife office to see if anything can be done to protect airline passengers and wildlife.
Latest post by WVEC on the chat is that a decision will be made tomorrow about whether to remove the eaglets from the nest... 
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Very, very sad. I am so sorry to hear about this. Barb
