I am a bald eagle volunteer nest observer.  Over the past few years, I have witnessed Bald Eagle behavior and have concluded that they are uncommonly faithful to their mates and after fledging their young will return to their established nest for the next year’s brood. The Institute of Wildlife Studies provides 5 live streaming cams that capture the eagle behavior 24/7.
The four +cam page is located at: http://www(dot)iws(dot)org/interactive_nestchat(dot)html
IWS main site: iws(dot)org
I recommend that you take a look at what is being provided for the public in terms of bird watching.

I know that the same two house finches come back every year to there nest in my eaves,, I can tell by the markings on them,, but truthfully ,I have no idea what the male and female are doing during the day.

With regard to the life-long commitment of some geese: In the first part, viz. “The Sword in the Stone,” of T.H. White’s wonderful re-telling of the story of King Arthur, “The Once and Future King,” the beneficent magician Merlyn metamorphoses the young Arthur into the form of several animals, to teach him lessons in ethics and politics.  And in the sequel, “The Book of Merlyn,” the old Arthur recalls these marvelous lessons.  The worst was turning into an ant, and enduring that totalitarian society.  But the best was turning into a white-fronted goose, Anser albifrons: heroic, freedom-loving, flying above artificial borders, expressing themselves in beautiful song.  And also romantic, as Arthur discovers, when he finds himself falling in love with another young goose.

I am sorry but there is something I do not understand in this article. Logically, in one nest, all the egss should be coming from one female parent, and as the article suggests, can have some eggs from a different male parent since the female was unfaithful to her partner, but how can an egg from a different mother come in the nest? With the exception of the Cuckoo Bird, I do not expect any transition of alien eggs to the nest. So how can 2 eggs in a nest of 4, be from a different mother father or both? I would appreciate further elaboration from the author.

Dina,
Perhaps to more easily understand, one would need to know what bird species is being studied and from where the data comes. Much of this type of work is being done with Purple Martins, a communal species which nests in close proximity with it’s neighbors. In that case it’s quite easy to see how a female may slip into the wrong gourd or cavity and drop an egg.  I have seen this occur as evidenced by eggs left in cavities in which no birds were nesting.

Thanks Craig, now the confusion is gone. I guess further studies are needed in communal birds to see if the same theory applies.

This year it appears that I will be able to observe the same couple of Red Shouldered Hawks for the sixth year in a row.  They may have been together longer, that is just the time that I have been walking past them and their nest to walk, my daughter home from school.  They have not taken to the nest yet, this year, but they are around the area and I think cleaning out the crows, as the frequency of crow sitings is going down.

Anthony,
How do you know it’s the same pair?

Craig,
While there are Red Shouldered Hawks scattered throughout the region, they are not so plentiful that there would be serious overlap of territory.  They have used the same nest for at least the five previous years, still waiting to see if they build it back up again for this year.  Also the color of the chest and shoulders seems to be the same.  Red Shouldereds can have a little variation in the color, these seem to be the same.  Usually I see them flying around and sometimes can get a real good look.  Last week I had the pair sitting together in a tree behind my yard and they egressed over my yard while I was outside watching them.  Range to tree from where I was standing was maybe 25-30 yards with no obstructions.

Thanks Anthony, I wondered as I’ve followed a couple of web-cam raptor nests and they have noted (because of banded birds) that on occasion, a mate disappears and a replacement seems to quickly fill the void, which would have occurred unknowingly to the casual observers without the web cams and the leg bands.  This spring a male peregrine showed up at the Harrisburg, PA nest (scrape) which was unbanded and not last years mate and for some time was successful in driving out the old male. Last I checked the old male had repossessed his old mate and apparently driven off the usurper.

I do not see stray Red Shouldered Hawks around, I am always looking out for my hawks though.  Occasional I see a Red Tailed Hawk, but they seem to be just passing though as infrequently as I see them around my neighborhood.  I live in a suburb of Tyler, Tx in a habitat transition with scattered neighborhoods, fields and woods (pine and mixed pine and hardwood).