(Eaglets fourteen weeks old)

Based on the images we’ve seen on the Eagle Cam, it seems clear that both Intrepid and Destiny are now flying and doing so successfully. The eaglets are gone from the nest for long periods of time and they do not appear to be on the local branches. The parents occasionally return to the nest with fish, and sometimes both eaglets come back to feed, but sometimes only one eaglet returns for the meal (meaning the other is out exploring somewhere).

Also, we’ve noticed that when the eaglets are at the nest for a meal, we often see them mantling now — mantling is when a raptor spreads its wings and tail over food to indicate that the food belongs to them and they don’t intend to share. Seeing this posture is a sure sign that our eaglets are growing up.

Cam watchers have asked if the eaglets are fishing on their own. While we’ve seen photos of both parents bringing fish to the nest, it seems unlikely the eaglets are catching their own live fish so soon. The skill of fishing is normally one that takes time to develop. In the meantime, the eaglets might be scavenging food that they find around the Blackwater River or the Refuge property. In fact this is how immature bald eagles find many of their meals — by locating food that has already died (and this could include snakes, turtles, small mammals, etc.).

In time the eaglets will learn to spot fish in the river and then learn to time their flight over the water so they can pluck the prey out with their talons. The better they are at this skill, the easier a time they will have surviving the first year on their own.

If you’ve never seen a bald eagle fishing, I should point out that they have a different fishing style than ospreys. It’s true that both bald eagles and ospreys catch their prey near the surface of the water, but while an osprey will dive into the water to capture the meal, a bald eagle will usually fly over the surface of the water and pluck the fish out with its talons. Sometimes the fish might be too heavy, and the eagle is forced into the water. At times like this, it’s not uncommon for the bald eagle to “swim” to shore with the fish in order to get its prey on land. So if anyone asks you if bald eagles can swim, the answer is yes.

If you’d like to see a video of an American bald eagle fishing, click on the thumbnail to the right; this WMV file is courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Also, here is an excellent video from the ARKive nature website showing a white-tailed eagle (from Europe) capturing a fish. White-tailed eagles are the nearest relation to our North American bald eagles, and they fish in a similar manner. After watching these videos, I think you’ll have a better appreciation for the unique skills that our eaglets must master in order to pluck moving fish from murky water while gliding through the air at the same time.

As for Intrepid and Destiny’s future plans, we expect our eaglets will hang around the nest for a while longer — relying on the parents for an easy meal — but eventually over the summer they will strike out on their own and begin developing their fishing, hunting, and flying skills so they are prepared to make it through the upcoming winter.

As for the Eagle Cam, sometime in the next few weeks we will turn off the camera feed because the eagles will be gone for most of the day, as the eaglets become even more independent. But in November, we will expect to see these same parents return to the cam nest and begin preparing for another breeding season, so around mid to late November we will turn the cam on again to catch the start of nest preparations.

I should point out that our Eagle Gallery will stay open as long as the Eagle Cam is live, and I’ll be posting an update to the gallery soon, but this entry will be the final post of our 2008 Eagle Cam Web Log. It’s possible I might get a couple last eaglet videos from the Refuge, and if I do, I’ll post links to them on the Eagle Cam page.

I’ll also keep posting updates on the Eagle Cam page as we hear news from other eagle nests — like the avian pox issue that we’ve been following in relation to the Norfolk Eagle Cam chick. Fortunately the news there seems to be getting better. And if anything noteworthy happens with our eaglets, I’ll be sure to mention it on the cam page updates.

Thanks to all those who have followed the cam, the web log, and the gallery updates. We feel this season has been a great success, and much of that is due to the tremendous dedication of our cam watchers. We greatly appreciate your time and support, and we hope to see you again in November.

Stay safe,
Lisa - webmaster
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Tags:
eagles, wildlife refuge, eagle cam, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland

 

(Eaglets eleven weeks old)

Our eaglets are now eleven weeks old, and if you look at this comparison shot, you’ll be amazed at how much they’ve changed in such a short period of time.

Normally eaglets fledge at around 9-13 weeks of age, so I went to the Refuge on Saturday to tape some video clips and to watch the video monitor at our Visitor Center to see if I could tell if Intrepid (our older eaglet) was flying. The eaglets were acting a little lazy on Saturday morning, but later in the day they became more active, and Intrepid did do a bit of flapping and branching, but did not appear to leave the nest. So at least as of this past weekend, it doesn’t look like he’s flying yet, although that could happen any day now.

Our younger eaglet, Destiny, will likely take that first leap not long after Intrepid goes, since the eaglets are close in age. Also, the sight of Intrepid flying around will likely motivate Destiny to get moving as soon as he’s able.

In our first video below (these videos are on YouTube as well) we see the eaglets at 10 weeks of age (the first two videos were recorded last week and the third is from Saturday), and in this clip one of the eaglets gives us a great view of his developing feathers. As he begins to flap, notice how his down feathers are falling off and blowing away — like snowflakes in the wind. Once the eaglets’ feathers are completely developed, the eaglets will have some remaining down feathers, but they’ll be under their feathers and close to their body.

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In the second clip, we see one of the eaglets doing a little nest maintenance (notice how much the nest is moving in the wind), then suddenly the eaglets become excited as they hear one of the parents returning to the nest. Next we see the father fly in with a fish, and one of the eaglets aggressively tries to take the fish from the parent, but the father hangs on and manages to feed both eaglets as they stab at the fish pieces. Gone are the days when the little chicks sat meekly in the nest and waited to be fed. :-)

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And in our third clip, we see the eaglets as they were on this past Saturday. In this video, Intrepid dances around the nest a bit as he flaps his wings, and he even jumps onto the branch briefly, but he does not leave the nest.

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It was breezy at the nest on Saturday, so it was interesting to see both eaglets flapping while also reacting to the windy conditions. Reading the wind is a skill that they’ll need when they’re riding the air over Blackwater Refuge and the Chesapeake Bay.

Speaking of Blackwater Refuge and the Bay, I wanted to talk a little in this web log entry about where the eaglets will go once they fledge. The Blackwater River is the main body of water within the Refuge, and the eaglets will spend a good deal of time perching near it and fishing in it over the upcoming months. What makes Blackwater Refuge a popular place for eagles (and ospreys) is that the local waters are very shallow, and since both eagles and ospreys get their fish near the surface, the waters offer a habitat that suits their fishing styles. Also, the Refuge has plenty of safe nesting areas and a healthy food population. Below are four photos that give you an idea as to where our eagles like to hang out. Click on the thumbnails for larger photos.

In the first shot, two adult eagles are perched over the Blackwater River and its marshes; this tree is a favorite perching spot near the Wildlife Drive. In the second photo, an adult eagle is perched on an empty osprey water platform. In the third shot, a perched eagle in the distance overlooks a fall scene where migrating geese fill the marshes. And in the final shot, the sun sets over a group of trees where immature bald eagles like to hang out together and watch for an easy meal in the river below.

While I was at the Refuge on Saturday, I saw quite a few immature bald eagles hanging out in the marsh and fields behind the Visitor Center. Often immature eagles (up to about four years of age) will stand or perch together — like a gang of teenagers hanging out on a street corner. It’s possible they feel less threatened with fellow immatures and it’s also likely the camaraderie may help them in their never-ending quest to find food.

In this photo that I took from a distance on Saturday, you can see a group of immature bald eagles of varying ages standing together near the water. Note how none of them have a completely white head yet. And in this next shot, you can see an immature bald eagle playing in the water that is behind the platform on the Osprey Cam. The two birds you see on that tall pole in the photo is our Osprey Cam pair, and the Blackwater River is in front of them.

So these are some of the places where our young birds will go once they are no longer bound to the nest. Blackwater Refuge is a wonderful place for a growing raptor, so we know they will have a wonderful time exploring the region, and we wish them all the luck in their future adventures.

Once our eaglets fledge, they will come back to the nest occasionally during the weeks that follow. The parents might meet them at the nest with a meal, and the eaglets might come back to sleep or just to rest for a bit. But eventually we’ll see less and less of them, and that will mean they are becoming independent young raptors that no longer need a nest. At that point, Blackwater Refuge — and the Chesapeake Bay area — will be their home.

Cam watchers have asked about bald eagles and migration. Many bald eagles do migrate, but the ones in the Chesapeake Bay region normally do not. During the winter, our adults will roam around the area but not really leave; however, areas like Blackwater Refuge will get more eagles during the colder months as bald eagles from up north migrate down here for part of their winter.

As for our immature bald eagles, young birds often roam for the first few years of their lives, since they don’t have the responsibility of a mate and chicks (that will come around five or six years of age). So while Intrepid and Destiny won’t migrate, they might roam over a large distance until it’s time to come back to Blackwater and settle down with a family.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
Contact

Tags:
eagles, wildlife refuge, eagle cam, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland

 

(Eaglets nine weeks old)

We’d like to once again congratulate the winners in our 2008 Eaglet-Naming Contest: Lenita Gullman from Middleton, New Jersey and Denny Motsko from Reston, Virginia. Our older eaglet is now known as Intrepid and our younger eaglet is Destiny.

Our eaglets are getting close to the point of fledging — maybe a couple weeks away. I was at the Refuge on Saturday and watched the video monitor to see if I could spot an eaglet jumping into the nest from one of the branches. Unfortunately at that point it still looked like they were stepping around the nest, so it didn’t seem like they had spent any time out on the branches of the nest tree.

However, we have noticed that since Saturday, both eaglets seem to be spending a good bit of time out of view. There is a possibility the eaglets are perching at the far bottom of the nest, which is the one area out of view of our web camera. Earlier I posted this photo on the cam page to show you what area I’m referring to. This photo was taken in 2006 when our camera slipped — or was accidentally pushed by the eagles — and we were forced to look at the back of the tree for a while. You’ll also notice there is another branch in this area — one I forgot about — where our eaglets could eventually branch before they fledge.

Since there is a chance Intrepid or Destiny might be perching on that branch near the bottom of the nest, I’ve asked our staff and volunteers at the Visitor Center to let us know if they see any live video where it looks like one of our eaglets is jumping into the nest from one of the tree branches. If I hear anything, I’ll be sure to pass it along.

Trail Eaglet

As I mentioned on the cam page earlier this week, we have a trail at Blackwater Refuge where you can see a bald eagle nest off in the distance. This nest has one eaglet, and I saw the young bird sitting out on the edge of the nest on Saturday. Lately we’ve seen our own eaglets sitting near the edge and gazing out like this. Now that the birds are getting close to taking that first big leap, you can’t help but wonder what they’re thinking when they look out at the world this way. The eaglets have only seen a very small part of the world so far, and they have so many amazing adventures ahead of them. In the next web log entry, I’ll talk more about the areas where our young birds will be flying and eventually catching their own fish.

Eagle Videos

Today I have two video clips to share. I’ve posted these on our YouTube channel, but you can also see a slightly less compressed version here. Left-click on the WMV video links below to play or right-click and choose “Save Target As” to download to your computer.

In the first clip, we see the father in the nest with a fish he brought. We don’t see much of the father these days, but he is around and he does occasionally help feed the eaglets. During the clip, the father hears or sees another bird flying around the nest (it might be the mother — you can see the shadow of a flying bird at one point), and he calls out, and then in the next clip you see the mother land in the nest.

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In the second clip below, the mother lands, and once again you can see the noticeable size difference between the two parents, with the mother being a good deal larger. For mom, one of the benefits of being larger is that she gets what she wants, so when the father doesn’t move away from the fish fast enough, she gives him a couple open-beak pecks to move him off the fish. Looks like the honeymoon is over. :-)

The father flies away, leaving his fish behind for the family, and the mother proceeds to feed an eaglet. Although it’s interesting to note that the father fed one eaglet and the mother fed the other. Nice teamwork.

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Technical Issues

We know our cam watchers have been a little frustrated about that fact that we don’t have a zoom camera that can show us more of the nest — especially when the eaglets take to their favorite spot near the trunk of the tree, which is out of our view. Our cam technician and I are once again starting to look for a zoom camera that might fit our unique needs at the eagle tree. This would be a camera for next season, but since the search could take a while, we’re starting it now.

There are certain things we won’t compromise on. First our camera is high in a tree and deep in the woods, so the camera must be able to support a wireless connection. Also, we use a waterproof camera because “weatherproof” cameras have proven to be unreliable in strong rain and fog. Finally we don’t want to give up our night vision — or infrared technology — which allows us to show you the wonderful night images we see. So with those conditions in mind, we’ll try to find a zoom camera that will give us more flexibility in showing you different views throughout the season.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
Contact

Tags:
wildlife refuge, eagle cam, eagles, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland