(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

 

(Eaglets eight weeks old)

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
Contact

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

 

Happy Earth Day to everyone!

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
Contact

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