Wichita ? Wildlife experts say bald eagles are thriving in Kansas this year, even if a popular pair that has nested near Wichita for five years is having trouble producing offspring.

District wildlife biologist Charlie Cope said between 84 and 90 active eagle nests have been reported in Kansas this year, and the state is expecting about 24 or 25 eaglets from the south-central region this year, The Wichita Eagle reported.

None of those eaglets will come from a pair that has captured Wichita’s attention since first being spotted in 2009. Observers said one of the eagles was seen in an “incubating position” but no egg hatched. Then a June 12 storm blew their nest out of the tree.

It’s unclear why they have been unsuccessful in mating, said Bob Gress, naturalist and former director of Wichita’s Great Plains Nature Center.

“You kind of wonder,” Gress said. “Most of the other birds are successful.”

Gress said he believes that people will eventually stop actively monitoring bald eagle nests because they will become commonplace.

This year, there was a bald eagle nest “every six or seven miles along the Arkansas River,” he said.

“The nice thing about eagles is everybody loves them, and not just because they’re big,” Gress said. “Canada geese are big too and not everybody loves them. There’s a mystique about them. You don’t have to be a bird lover to appreciate the bald eagle.”