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

 

Our eaglets — Intrepid and Destiny — have been very active as of late. We’re about convinced that Intrepid is flying due to the amount of time he’s been missing from the nest. Also, Destiny appears to be branching, but based on the amount of time he’s been seen in the nest, we don’t think he’s flying just yet.

Also, I recently posted a few photos that seem to show an eaglet taking off (Photo 1 and Photo 2). One second the eaglet is there, and then he’s not.

Recently I received an email from someone who seemed to think that by posting these photos on the cam page I was indicating the eaglet had left for good. For those folks, I suggest they read my previous web log postings where I’ve explained that even if the eaglets are flying, we expect to see them returning to the nest. “Taking off” doesn’t mean the eaglet has left for good, it just means that the eaglet is flying and no longer bound to the nest. And as we’ve seen in many image shots on the cam in the last week, occasionally there are two eaglets there, meaning that even if Intrepid is flying, he’s obviously doing well enough to return to the nest.

Thanks to all those who have been sending in photos to our Eagle Cam Gallery. I’ll post an update to our Gallery later this week.

Other Eagle News

The main reason I wanted to post this update is because of some rather dramatic eagle news that happened around the Web the previous week. Those who follow some of the other Internet eagle cams have likely heard this news already, but for those who have not, I thought it would be helpful to post an update.

First, at the Norfolk Eagle Cam in Virginia they announced that their sole eaglet has developed a growth on its beak. At first there was speculation that the problem was Avian Pox, but they have since removed the eaglet, and now they do not believe that is the cause. Unfortunately the most recent tests show that the aggressive growth has grown into the eaglet’s sinus cavity and appears to be involved with the underlying tissue and bone, which makes the situation much more serious. At this time, we don’t know what the outcome will be for the eaglet who is otherwise healthy and strong.

You can read more about the eaglet on this WVEC news report and also on the Norfolk Cam blog.

We feel especially sorry for the Norfolk fans, and for this eagle family, since this is the nest that lost their first batch of eggs to the intruder eagle earlier this season. The sole eaglet was seen as a bit of a miracle because it arrived so late and was the only eaglet to hatch and survive.

The other bad news of the past week was the dramatic happenings at the Pelican Harbor Eagle Cam on the Channel Islands in California. As I’ve mentioned in my web logs before, we always show a special interest in the Channel Islands’ bald eagles because of the history of the islands. The Channel Islands is a locale that was severally affected by tons of DDT (the now-banned pesticide) that were dumped into the California waters decades ago, which subsequently devastated the local bird populations (DDT moved up the food chain and weakened the eggshells of the local raptors that ate the contaminated fish). The Institute for Wildlife Studies, along with other local supporters, have been working to restore the bald eagle population on the islands, and this has involved removing eggs from the nests and swapping them with fake eggs, then incubating the real eggs by hand and returning them after hatching. This process has been necessary due to the fact that DDT still weakens the shells of the local eagle population.

This past week, the two seven-week-old chicks at the Pelican Harbor nest were accosted by a locally born sub-adult bald eagle. Cam watchers on that website witnessed the scary scene where the sub-adult bird hung out near the nest for a considerable period of time and then eventually attacked the resident chicks. A video on YouTube shows the footage where, despite the efforts by the chicks to scare the intruder off, the aggressive intruder swooped over the nest, dragging one chick out of the nest with him. A short time later, the intruder returned and did the same to the second chick.

Representatives from the Institute for Wildlife Studies were alerted to what had been seen on the cam, and they rushed to the remote nest as fast as they could. Both chicks were found beneath the nest (likely too heavy for the intruder to carry). The recent reports say the one chick has a puncture wound in its beak and the other has a fractured right wing that has since been set.

As for the parents, one parent was seen fighting off the intruder after the attacks, but unfortunately the parents did not appear to have been around when the eaglets were calling out and trying to scare off the sub-adult. Maybe the parents did not expect another bird to attack such big eaglets.

You can follow the action of this event as it was recorded on the Channel Islands’ Discussion Forum. Also you can see photos of the eaglets after they were rescued and as they were being examined by the vet.

Dr. Sharpe from the IWS said in a television interview that this attack by a local sub-adult of the same species — on large eaglets in the nest — was very unusual and not something they would have expected.

As if this news wasn’t bad enough, earlier in the season, the Channel Islands’ fans also lost the female adult bald eagle and two eaglets at what is known as the grassland nest — a nest that an eagle pair had built on the ground (possible because of a lack of land predators on the island). You can read more about the grassland nest on the Channel Islands’ forum .

In addition to these two events, the Channel Islands’ fans were dealing with the additional sad news that the eggs at their Santa Rosa nest did not hatch, so this has been a difficult year all around.

Although our Blackwater Osprey Cam this year was a bust, we feel lucky that our two eaglets — Intrepid and Destiny — have had a relatively uneventful season and appear to be doing well. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for them as they learn to fly and spend more time out in the world, where danger is great for all forms of wildlife.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
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eagles, wildlife refuge, eagle cam, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland

 

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

 

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

 

As I mentioned on the cam page, we have picked the two winners for our 2008 Eaglet-Naming Contest. We have emailed the winners, but we haven’t heard back from both of them yet, so we’ll hold off announcing the names since we normally like to share a little personal info about our winners when we make the announcement. Thanks to all those who took the time to enter our contest and share their creative skills with us. We got a lot of great names.

As we noted earlier, we are hearing from staff and volunteers at the Refuge that the eaglets are tearing off food for themselves now, but we are still seeing shots showing the eaglets being fed by a parent. This could be a case where even if the eaglets can do it themselves, it’s just easier when mom does it.

Regarding the eaglets’ size, I’ve been watching the cam over the last week or so to see if we can tell the gender of our chicks now that they’re two months old. It appears to me that they both look about the same size, which seems to indicate we may have two of the same sex. In addition, I’ve been looking at how they compare to the female eagle (the bigger of the parents), and it appears that our eaglets are smaller than she is. We’ll never know for sure the gender of our two youngsters, but based on these images, we might hazard to guess that we have two males.

Branching Eaglets

The eaglets are now about eight weeks old, and it’s amazing how fast the time has flown and how big our youngsters have become. Bald eaglets normally fledge at 9-13 weeks of age, but before they take that first flight, they spend a good bit of time branching.

Branching is when the eaglets hop out onto the branches of their nest tree and perch there. This activity helps them develop their perching skills (remember they’ve been sitting in the nest all this time) and also gets them acclimated to maneuvering in and out of their nest and around the tree branches.

Our friend Woody Dawson, from up near Susquehanna State Park in Maryland, loaned me this animated GIF (975KB) that he made showing one of his local bald eaglets branching. Notice how the eaglet uses its wings to maneuver its talons along the branch. Once the eaglet is in a secure place on the branch, it will perch there and observe the world around its home nest.

We also have a branching video clip from our own cam. In this clip from last year, we see our eaglet Majesty flapping out to one of the branches under the web camera. Then later in the clip you see our other eaglet, Justice, flapping her wings and skipping along the nest — she was very close to flying at this point. Note that as a female bald eagle, her wingspan could have reached 6-7 feet.

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The loblolly pine tree that holds our web camera — and the eaglets’ home — has several branches for the eaglets to choose from. On our current camera view you can see one of the branches in the upper left corner. Also there is a big branch on the right and a third under (and to the left) of the cam — this is the branch Majesty used in the video clip.

We can’t move the camera (or zoom out) to see the branching, but I have asked our volunteers and staff at the Refuge to let us know if they see any branching from our live TV monitor at the Visitor Center. It’s easier to see the branching on live video because you can see the eaglets jumping in and out of the nest. I will be getting some new video from the Refuge soon, and I’ll be sure to share those clips here, but thus far we do not have any confirmed branching yet from our eaglets.

Thanks to everyone who has been sending in images for our Eagle Cam Gallery. We’ll post an update before the end of the week.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
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bald eagles, eaglets, wildlife refuge, eagle cam, branching, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland

 

The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, by 20 million people across the country, and every year since then concerned citizens in America have tried to mark this day as a moment to raise awareness about our environment. If you’d like to read about how Senator Gaylord Nelson organized the first Earth Day back in 1970, visit the Wilderness Society website for more information.

In honor of this day, I thought it would be a good time to talk about the interesting relationship that exists between eagles and ospreys — the two wonderful raptors that we celebrate with our web cams. Eagle and osprey populations in the U.S. were not always as healthy as they are today. In the post World War II years, large amounts of the insecticide DDT were introduced into their environment, and the poison affected the ability of eagles and ospreys to reproduce successfully — much in the same way that DDT in the waters off California is affecting the reproductive success of eagles in the Channels Islands today. The eventual recovery of eagle and osprey populations was greatly helped by the environmental awareness that grew out of events like Earth Day and the publication of Rachel Carson’s seminal book Silent Spring. In fact, DDT was banned in America two years after the first Earth Day was held.

Eagles and Ospreys

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is fortunate in that it has a large population of both eagles and ospreys, so confrontations between the birds here is not uncommon. Often when the two raptor species tangle, the battle is about fish. Ospreys are considered perhaps the best anglers in nature, and while eagles are also skilled at catching fish, they are better known for being opportunists that will sometimes use their larger size and greater power to steal a fish from an osprey rather than catch it themselves.

The bald eagle’s propensity for theft is what gave it a less than noble reputation in the eyes of founding father Ben Franklin. In a letter to his daughter, Franklin voiced his objections about the eagle:

“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.”

Biologists today are not as critical of the bald eagle and recognize this fish-stealing habit as an effective survival skill rather than a moral defect. And the eagle does often find success because despite efforts on the part of the osprey to keep its fish, many accounts of the birds’ battles end with the osprey being forced to drop its meal. But if the osprey puts up a fight, then you might see something more dramatic.

In the book The Bald Eagle: Haunts and Habits of a Wilderness Monarch, one of the authors describes an event on a Saskatchewan lake that showed a surprising twist to the usual skirmish:

“The eagle attacked from a few feet above and to one side of the Osprey — once, twice, and then a third time. On each pass the Osprey visibly flinched, for the eagle’s talons barely cleared its back. We anxiously awaited the outcome. Many observers had described how typically the Osprey drops its fish, and with surprising agility the Bald Eagle snatches the fallen prey in midair. We were not prepared for what happened. After three unsuccessful attacks, the eagle turned to brute force. This time coming up fast from behind and below, the eagle flipped onto its back, thrust its talons upward, and ripped the fish right out of the Osprey’s grasp. What a sight! After quickly righting itself, the eagle turned and flapped leisurely to deposit the booty on its nest.”

During the times when the osprey comes out on top, it’s often because it outsmarts the eagle. For example, sometimes osprey couples will team up to protect their food from the eagles. Our Blackwater ranger, Tom Miller, witnessed this when he saw an osprey fly toward an eagle to intercept it while the osprey’s partner quickly flew to the home nest with the fish.

In addition, ospreys can be even more aggressive if they’re protecting their young and their home nest. At Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, local photographer Bob Montanaro captured this type of event on film as he watched a group of four ospreys drive off a group of immature bald eagles that were flying too close to the ospreys’ nests. Be sure to view these amazing photos where you can see the osprey aggressively flying at the immature eagle and making it clear that the ospreys will not tolerate the eagles in their territory.

At Blackwater, our ospreys at the Osprey Cam nest will react to bald eagles that are perched in the woods to the left of the nest. You can’t see these woods on the cam image, but it’s an area where eagles sometimes like to sit, and the close proximity to the osprey platform makes the ospreys agitated when an eagle is there.

A few years ago, I was at the Refuge with my video camera and was lucky enough to capture an episode showing the cam mother chasing off an eagle that was trying to perch in the trees near the cam. The first video below shows the eagle flying into the trees near our Osprey Cam nest and the other shows the mother consequently dive-bombing the eagle. In this instance, the mother did a good job of sending a strong message to the eagle, but it was somewhat risky for her to have to leave the chicks alone to do this. (Left-click on the Windows Media Video file links below to play, or right-click on the links and choose “Save Target As” to download to your computer):

Eagle Flyby (3.5MB)
Osprey Dive-bombing (2.5MB)

Just recently, photographer Bob Quinn was out at the Refuge and witnessed a similar episode between our Osprey Cam birds and an eagle that had been sitting in those trees. His photo (on the right) offers a dramatic glimpse at how these aerial battles look when a smaller raptor tries to take on a much bigger challenger.

Even with all the ospreys’ spunk and determination, there is no denying the fact that bald eagles are more powerful. A great example of this can be seen on a YouTube video I saw recently that shows a bald eagle taking a fish away from an osprey on Lake Merwin in Washington state. The speed with which the eagle overtakes the osprey is truly amazing to watch. The chirping you hear in the background is the osprey “yelling” at the eagle for stealing its meal. In such a situation, there’s not a lot the osprey can do but accept the fact that the eagle won this battle.

[A sidenote to teachers and parents — this video includes a slightly muffled profanity at the end by one of the observers in the video who got excited watching the scene, so just a little warning for the youngsters in our audience.]

Happy Earth Day!

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
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Tags:
eagles, wildlife refuge, eagle cam, osprey cam, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland

 

Eaglet-Naming Contest

Although we’ve mentioned it on the cam page, I also wanted to announce here that we have now started our 2008 Eaglet-Naming Contest. Visit our Contest page for all the details you need to enter, and remember that the window for entering your names is two weeks, so the contest will end on April 26.

Eagle News
The Barton Island Eagle Cam in Massachusetts now has two chicks. Our friend Kimmarie at Falcons and Friends has posted an entertaining video of the first hatch, which you can see here.

Also, our friend Bobby from Kentucky alerted us to the hatching going on at the three-egg nest on the Colorado Eagle Cam. Here’s a great capture of the first hatching.

Raptors and Lead Poisoning

About a week ago, an event regarding a bald eagle came to my attention, and I’d like to talk about it here with the hope of producing some good out of an unfortunate situation.

One of our cam watchers was with his wife near Vienna, Maryland, which is not far from Blackwater Refuge on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He spotted an adult bald eagle in a tree, and at first he thought the eagle looked very old, since the eagle was listless but with no visible signs of injury. He wrote me when he got home and sent me the photo you see to the right. I forwarded the photo to a volunteer with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, which is a wonderful bird rehabilitation outfit on the Eastern Shore. Before anyone could go out and look for the bird, a representative from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources brought a female adult bald eagle to Tri-State, and it had come from this same general area, so we suspect it was the same bird.

The Tri-State vet discovered that the eagle was dehydrated, anemic and underweight. The in-house lead test they performed on her was very high, and radiographs showed seven discrete metal densities in her ventriculus (gizzard) and the pellets appeared to be lead shot. The vet started treatment, and they saw hopeful signs at first, since the eagle was trying to stand, but after a couple days of treatment, she died — the poisoning was just too far along.

This sad event brings to light an important issue in the avian world — lead poisoning. According to the website Wildlife Without Lead (which was created by HawkWatch International):

Raptors may scavenge or prey upon birds, mammals, or fish that have been exposed to lead, resulting in the risk of secondary lead poisoning. This became strikingly evident in the summer of 2000 when five of the captively-bred California Condors reintroduced into the Vermilion Cliffs area of Arizona died from lead-poisoning. It is believed they ingested lead shot from a mule deer carcass.

Any raptor species that forages on game animals is at risk of secondary poisoning including Golden and Bald Eagles, California Condors, and accipiters such as Cooper’s Hawks and Northern Goshawks. Digestive acids wear down the leaden material which is then absorbed into body tissues. When lead enters the circulatory system, it mimics the movement of calcium. It becomes stored in the bones and some may be excreted into the feces via the bile. Eventually, concentrations may reach toxic levels causing a variety of problems which often end in death…In many birds, sub-lethal dosages present a variety of symptoms. These include immune suppression, reproductive impairment, weight loss, wing droop, diarrhea, and tissue damage. Many of the sub-lethal problems result in death due to reduced physical performance, susceptibility to disease and infection, and increased predation.

And raptors aren’t the only birds affected. Other birds susceptible to lead contamination include: Common Loon, Trumpeter Swan, Mississippi Sandhill Crane, Canada Goose, Mallard, American Black Duck, Ring-necked Duck, Redhead, Wood Duck, Greater Scaup, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, White-winged Scoter, Sandhill Crane, Great Blue Heron, Common Egret, Snowy Egret, White Ibis, King Rail, Clapper Rail, Herring Gull, Laughing Gull, Royal Tern, Brown Pelican, American While Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant.

As for how an eagle could become poisoned, the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota reports that:

When lead fishing sinkers are lost through broken line or other means, birds such as loons, swans, and eagles can inadvertently eat them. Some birds swallow lead when they scoop up pebbles from the bottom of a lake or river to help grind their food; others ingest lead by eating fish that have swallowed sinkers. When lead ammunition is used in the hunting of large game, and gut piles are left behind or the animal is wounded and dies later, eagles can swallow a piece of shrapnel as they scavenge on the remains of the dead animal.

Although it’s difficult to get accurate statistics on casualty rates from lead poisoning (since many poisoned animals are never found), the Center states that “Between 1980 and 1996, The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota reported lead poisoning in 138 of 650 eagles treated by the Center. Since 1996, an average of 25 percent of the bald eagles admitted to The Raptor Center each year have toxic levels of lead in their blood.”

In 1991, the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting was banned in the U.S., and just recently California responded to the threat of lead poisoning in Condors by making hunters switch to non-lead ammunition when they hunt big game and coyote in Condor habitat. While both these acts were important steps in the battle to reduce lead poisoning, lead is still the primary material for ammunition used to hunt mammals and upland birds and for weights used to fish.

What You Can Do

If you have a friend or family member who hunts or fishes, then pass along the two brochures provided below to these people. Show them what the consequences of lead poisoning can be and show them that they can make a difference by avoiding lead-based materials. Included in the brochures are tips for finding non-lead products at local retailers.

If you hunt or fish yourself, consider the many species you are inadvertently hurting with your use of lead and make plans to switch to non-lead products. In addition, it’s also important to dispose of the lead products you currently have by taking them to your household hazardous waste facility for proper disposal. Finally, you can help by patronizing retail stores that promote and sell non-lead products.

We can’t do anything now to save this bald eagle that was poisoned, but we can do something to save the many other birds that might die in the future. So take a moment to alert those around you to the dangers of lead, and encourage them to find alternatives that they can live with — and that our wildlife can live with, as well.

Until next time,

Lisa - webmaster
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Tags:
eagles, wildlife refuge, raptors, lead poisoning, Blackwater Refuge

 

First, I wanted to make a quick announcement about Earth Day (officially April 22). In honor of Earth Day, Blackwater Refuge will be holding a litter pick-up on April 12 and also a tree planting on April 27 and May 3. If you’d like to celebrate Earth Day, this is a great way to do it — for individuals, families, and community groups. The litter pick-up not only helps make the Refuge more attractive, it helps reduce roadkill (animals are attracted to the trash); and our tree planting will help restore vital habitat at the Refuge. So visit our Earth Day page to learn more about joining us and giving something back to nature.

Eaglet Update

Our eaglets are doing well and growing more each day. We’ve recently seen the mother eagle bringing in a little more food, and both chicks seem to be getting fed, although it’s clear the older eaglet is getting the most.

Right now the routine seems to be that when the mother brings a meal, the older eaglet asserts its dominance and the younger eaglet acts submissive. But then once the older eaglet is full, the younger bird steps forward and gets fed. As an indication that the eaglets are getting fed, we’ve noticed we can now see their crops after a meal. A crop is a pouch on the chest area of each eaglet and it’s used for storing food for later consumption. So when you see an enlarged crop, it means the chicks have been given a decent meal.

We’ve had folks ask what the eaglets look like up close, and this photo is about the best look we can give you. This is an eaglet with the second coat of down and also with a few new blood feathers (on its lower right wing). Both of our eaglets are showing signs of blood feathers (dark brown areas on their bodies, especially on the tips of their wings and their backs), so they look a lot like the bird in the photo.

Another question we’ve been asked is whether or not the eaglets are feeding themselves. It is possible at this stage that the eaglets are tearing off some food themselves, although they are still reliant on the mother for a good bit of the feeding. But it won’t be long before the eaglets will be able to tear into a fresh meal themselves.

Miscellaneous Eagle News

Before we get to our new videos below, I wanted to share some miscellaneous eagle news. Biologists in California are helping the eagles in the Channel Islands recover from the lasting impacts of DDT (the banned pesticide), and one way they do this is to remove eggs from eagle nests on the island and manually incubate them, then put the chicks back into the nest once they’ve hatched. They do this because DDT that was dumped into the California waters decades ago still weakens the eggshells of the raptors. Here is an amazing video of two of the incubated eggs, and in the video you can hear what the eaglets sound like right before they hatch. Keep in mind this is the sound the eagle parents hear, which lets them know that the chick is coming. Very cool!

Videos at Three Weeks of Age

About a week ago, I was given some new videotape of our eaglets. These clips show the young birds at about three weeks of age, and they were recorded from our live video feed, which you can see on the monitors at our Visitor Center. You can left-click the videos below to play them or right-click and choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target As” to download them. Also, you can see these videos on our Blackwater YouTube Channel.

In the first video, we see one of the eaglets flapping its wings. This is just the beginning of what will be many hours of flapping practice as the young birds try to develop their wings for that first big flight.

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In the second video, we see the father eagle arrive with what looks like a small mammal. The mother takes the father’s offering and prepares to feed the eaglets. This video gives us a nice view of one of the somewhat rare times when the family is all together.

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In the third video, we see one of the eaglets slicing over the edge. Slicing is the falconer’s term for defecating, and chicks know at a very early age to back up to the edge to relieve themselves. (This is why you see whitewash on many of the branches around the rim of the nest.) Also in this video we see the same eaglet using its talon to scratch its face.

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And in the final video, we see a funny episode where the older eaglet tries to swallow a very long bone — which doesn’t seem like such a good idea to the mother — and eventually the young bird has to cough it up.

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Osprey News

Tom Lorsung recently sent in a beautiful photo taken at one of the water osprey platforms at the Refuge. In addition to our land-based Osprey Cam nest, the Refuge also has several water osprey nests that you can see from our Wildlife Drive, like the one in Tom’s shot. So even if our cam nest action is erratic, we are getting regular action at our other nests.

Also, I wanted to share this amazing video from the Puleston Osprey Cam in New York where the male osprey delivered a fish to the female. Only problem was the male had a hard time removing his talon from the meal, and the female flew away with the fish while he was still attached to it! We hear the male returned to the nest later, so he was all right.

As for our nest, as we mentioned on the cam page, we appear to have three ospreys (some cam watchers think four ospreys) vying for the cam nest. We’ll just have to wait and see if one pair claims the nest and begins refilling it with sticks. We had an odd year on the cam last year, and it appears this year will be unusual too.

A final note: One cam watcher asked about when I’ll start the Osprey Cam Web Log. I’m waiting to see if we’ll actually have a nesting pair on the platform before I start the web log. But in the meantime, for those who want to learn more about ospreys, be sure to visit our Osprey fact page, and also visit our Cam Central page to find links to our old Osprey Cam Web Logs. The 2006 season was particularly rewarding as we had four chicks hatch on the platform that year, and all of them fledged — a somewhat rare occurrence for a North American nest.

Until next time,

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

 

As for the eaglets, we see that they’re more comfortable at being uncovered in the nest. The mother eagle only seems to cover them when it rains or when the temperature is very cool in the early morning or evening. Otherwise, the eaglets are left uncovered, but we suspect one of the parents is sitting in the tree watching them, even if we can’t see them on the cam. Once the eaglets are big enough to be safe from predators, the mother eagle will be able to leave the area for longer periods and possibly do more hunting. We hope that will increase the food supply.

As for the father, we have no idea what he does with his time since we see so little of him. As we noted on Thursday, he did show up on that particular day with a fish or two, which was the most we’ve seen from him in a while. He seems to like spending time perching on the Osprey Cam nest, but other than that, he is only visible for brief periods during the day. We hope he is defending the nest area from intruders or sharing in the eaglet-watching duties.

Cam watchers have asked if this is our same pair from last year. Again, we don’t really think so based on their performance. It’s possible one of the pair died during the off season, and the other mate had to find a new partner. Or it’s possible something happened to both our eagles, and this is a completely new pair. Eagles are normally very loyal to a successful nest (which this one is) so we think if our former pair could have returned, they would have.

It is possible this is a new male, which would account for his lackluster performance. Maybe he’s just inexperienced at the responsibilities necessary for being a father — the main one being bringing in enough food for the eaglets and the mother during these early weeks of nesting. But we can be optimistic and say that at least the eaglets seem to be getting enough food to grow, and we hope as the mother becomes less tied to the nest, she might be able to roam farther in search of food, and that will increase the quantity of fish and fowl that we see.

Big Yellow Talons

One of the most noticeable traits on the eaglets now is their big yellow talons or feet. Beaks and talons grow fastest on young bald eaglets, and by about mid April, their beaks and talons will be close to adult size. Biologists speculate that this helps the eaglets because the full-size beak aids them in feeding themselves and the full-size feet help them hold on tightly to the nest when they’re moving around their home during windy weather or when flapping their wings in practice for eventual flight.

The eagle’s talons are comprised of four powerful toes that can break through tough fish skin or animal skin and then hold tight while carrying the prey home. These talons are similar to the osprey’s in that they both have tiny spicules on the toes (spicules are little bumps that help the raptors hold onto slippery fish). But the osprey has one advantage that the eagle does not have — an opposable toe. One of the osprey’s front toes can rotate backwards so that two toes are holding the fish from the back and two from the front. An eagle can only hold the fish with one back toe (called the hallux). This means an osprey has an easier time holding onto a thrashing fish.

Something else worth noting about the bald eagle’s feet is that the feathers do not go all the way down the leg (called the tarsus), unlike a golden eagle, which has a fully feathered leg. The reason for the difference is that the bald eagle’s primary diet is fish, whereas the golden eagle’s diet is primarily birds and small mammals. The bald eagle’s lower body often gets wet during fishing, so in order for its legs to dry faster and to reduce drag in the water, the legs, or tarsi, are bare of feathers.

Check out this graphic to learn more about the legs and talons of a bald eagle.

Osprey Update

For those who have been watching our trials and tribulations at the Osprey Cam, this is what we know: the fish in the Blackwater River (which is where most of the Refuge raptors fish) should have plenty of gizzard shad and catfish for our local birds. Also, from what our local experts believe, the owl and eagle that we’ve seen perched on the platform at different times would not likely prevent the ospreys from nesting at the platform.

In the past seven years of our Osprey Cam, whenever an osprey pair showed any intention to nest at the platform, the eagles vanished, so we don’t think a periodic eagle perched there is discouraging them if they really wanted the nest. The Great horned owl can be a predator of osprey chicks, but we’ve been told it is not likely the bird is discouraging the ospreys from nesting at the platform.

In the past, the ospreys have had great success at the Osprey Cam nest up until last year. As our old-timers know, 2007 was the first time in seven years of being online that we did not have chicks at the Osprey Cam nest. An intruder female osprey managed to disrupt the family structure, and our father went missing (possibly tempted by the new female), leaving the resident female on three eggs. She stayed with them as long as she could, but eventually had to get food, and while she was gone, a crow came in and punctured all three, thus ending our season.

When an eagle or osprey couple fail at producing a brood, they will sometimes change nests or partners, so it is possible our pair separated or chose not to nest again at the platform for that reason. Despite this, the Osprey Cam nest is a wonderful nesting location. It’s safe from land predators, it’s high and open (like ospreys prefer), and it’s right in front of the river, so we hope that another pair will take it, since we have a lot of ospreys arriving at the Refuge now for nesting season.

If you’d like to see what’s around the Osprey Cam, check out this web log entry I posted back in 2006. Scroll down the page a bit and you’ll see the 360-degree virtual reality Quicktime movie I put together that allows cam watchers to see what’s around the cam including the Blackwater River and the water impoundment areas that surround the nest. This movie also gives you a good idea as to the beautiful habitat that you can see if you visit our Wildlife Drive at the Refuge.

Eagle Audio

Finally, I did want to point out one more new video at the NCTC Eagle Cam blog. They have sound on their cam, and in the clip on this page you can hear not only the adults calling but also the three growing eaglets and their more developed whistles. It’s really a treat to hear the audio.

We’ll try to update the Gallery soon, and I just received a couple more videotapes from the Eagle Cam, so I’ll try to edit them and post some new YouTube videos within the next few days.

Until next time,

Lisa - webmaster
Contact

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

 

Well, after singing the praises of our father eagle in the last post, the male has slipped into his erratic food delivery schedule again, and consequently food has not been abundant in the nest. After a couple days of not seeing any new meals brought in, the mother produced a decent-sized bird, only to have the father bring in this small contribution. We’re not sure where he finds such tiny fish, but it actually looked smaller than the eaglets.

We did see a good-sized fish brought in early Sunday morning, and we’re not sure who brought it, but since the father eagle appeared in the image, we’ll be optimistic and pretend dad brought it. :-)

The lack of food is putting some stress on the younger eaglet, as we’re seeing submissive behavior from the younger chick and some bullying behavior by the older eaglet, who is doing what all older eaglets do when food is short — making sure it gets the most food.

We’ve seen images where the younger chick appears submissive during meal time — such as staying down and in the back while the parent is feeding. Also we’ve seen the familiar submissive posture where the younger eaglet puts its head down and away from the older chick, usually as a result of pecking from the elder eaglet.

These are normal behaviors in a nest where the food is light and the two chicks are playing the game of “every eaglet for itself,” but we had hoped to see less of this since Blackwater appears to have enough food for a two-eaglet family.

Several cam watchers have asked if the eaglets could feed themselves. While we have seen shots showing what looked like eaglets pecking at the food, it’s not likely they can tear off meat at this stage. Duck and fish can be very tough to tear apart, and the eaglets need to be bigger and stronger before they can tear off meat for themselves. Once the eaglets are bigger, we’ll see the parents just drop food into the nest and let the eaglets “go at it,” but at this stage in their lives, they need a parent to do a lot of the tearing for them.

We did see one exciting thing this past week, and that was an eaglet clearly flapping its wings. We’ll see more of this activity in the weeks to come, but it’s good to see the eaglets beginning to exercise their wings in preparation for the day when they become mighty fliers like their parents.

Speaking of the eaglets, you might have noticed I’ve tried to avoid calling either of them “him” or “her” because we aren’t sure about their sex just yet. While it is true that female bald eagles are larger than the males, at this age in an eaglet’s life, size is related more to order of birth, so we can’t really guess the gender of our eaglets at this point. However, when they are older — around the time they get ready to fledge — we should be able to guess their gender by their comparative size.

Last year, our two eaglets — Justice and Majesty — exhibited this difference, as you can see in the image to the right. Justice, on the left, was definitely larger and appeared to be a female, and Majesty appeared to be a male.

As for our eaglets this year, we can speculate that the first chick might be a female. The reason for this is in the book The Bald Eagle: Haunts and Habits of a Wilderness Monarch, Canadian eagle biologist Dr. Gary Bortolotti offers evidence of a sex bias based on observations that he collected while studying 37 eaglet broods around Besnard Lake in Saskatchewan, Canada. He reports, “Even though there was an overall nestling sex ratio of one to one, the order in which the sexes hatched was not random; 63% of first-hatched eggs were females, and 68% of second-hatched eggs were males. A sex bias in hatching sequence has only recently been discovered in birds.” The reasoning they offered for this was that because male eaglets develop faster in the nest, having the female born first would reduce the competitive advantage of the faster-growing male.

So we’ll be keeping an eye on our eaglets’ growth, and after they develop their feathers we’ll likely have a better idea as to their gender.

Also, now that we have chicks, several cam watchers have asked if we will hold our annual Eaglet Naming Contest this year. The answer is yes, and we’ll be announcing the start of that when the eaglets get a little bigger. For those who are new to our website, normally we allow folks to enter a name for each eaglet, then judges pick the winners, and the winners get a prize from our Refuge gift store, as well as get recognized on our website.

Speaking of the contest, it just occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve mentioned WildCam.com this season. For those who are new to our cams, we have a partner in WildCam.com, which is based in Africa. We share our Eagle and Osprey Cam feeds with them, so if you ever have a problem accessing the Friends of Blackwater website, check out WildCam.com to find our cams there as well. You have to register, but it’s free, and they won’t share your email address with anyone.

Once the Eaglet Naming Contest begins, it will be hosted on the WildCam.com site, although we’ll obviously publicize it here and give folks instructions for entering their names at WildCam. So stay tuned for more info on the contest.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
Contact

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