CALAIS – A tiny head has been spotted at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge.

It’s the 15th eaglet to be hatched in the nest near the intersection of U.S. Route 1 and Route 9.

Another bobbing head, which belongs to a second eagle family, has been spotted at Bald Mountain, about 3 miles from the refuge headquarters on Charlotte Road.

“It is isolated [at Bald Mountain]. The only access is by foot and it is in the wilderness area,” said refuge manager Bob Peyton on Friday.

The Route 1 eaglet hatched around May 5 and refuge officials saw its tiny head on May 13. Eagle watchers spotted it the first week of June. It should be visible sitting on the edge of the nest in the next few weeks and is expected to fledge at the end of July.

For the 13th year in a row, the parent eagles opened up a summer home at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. Their home is a nest on a platform atop a utility pole. The nest is comfortably lined with twigs and branches.

Mom and pop have been busy.

One remains with the nest while the other flies to the St. Croix River to hunt fish. Unless, of course, it gets a little help from refuge officials.

Peyton said that a yearling moose was found dead at the refuge and staff moved it to the dike. The eagles have been feeding on it.

“We’ve already noticed people pulling over to the side of the road and watching the eagles on the dike. We also found a beaver roadkill that we took out on the dike as well,” he said.

Peyton says the Washington County Sheriff’s Department and Calais Police Department notify the refuge of any roadkill. “To supplement the food,” he explained.

The majestic eagle pair winters along the coast in the Cobscook Bay area.

In early spring, when the ice leaves the lakes and marshes, they commute between the bay and Moosehorn as they rebuild their nest.

More than a decade ago, refuge personnel built several nesting units for the local osprey population.

One of the platforms was near the intersection of routes 9 and 1 and the Charlotte Road, and a pair of osprey took up residence there. In 1991, refuge workers were surprised when a pair of eagles showed interest in that platform and appropriated it.

Alert refuge personnel recognized the predicament of the displaced smaller birds and built the osprey a new platform about 1,000 feet from the eagles’ new home. The two bird families have nested side by side since then.

After years of decline in the bald eagle population, with fewer than 30 breeding pairs in the 1960s, there were 289 nesting pairs in the state as of early last year, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said in its 2002 Management Report.

Eagles now reside in 14 of Maine’s 16 counties.

The public is invited to use the observation platform across the road from the nest. A spotting scope gives everyone a bird’s-eye view of the activity.

It is a violation of federal law to go near the nest, and the area is posted.