Eaglets thirteen weeks old

We have a few last videos to share of our 2009 eaglets — Chesapeake and Choptank — and we’ll use this post to wrap up our web log for the 2009 season, since the eaglets are now rarely at the nest. Please note that although we’re ending the web log, the cam will be staying online for the time being, and the gallery will remain open as long as the cam is online. Also, we might have one or two more videos from the last batch of tapes from the Refuge — if we do, we’ll put them on our Blackwater YouTube Channel and post a note on the cam page.

But before we get to the videos, I wanted to share a photo that we came across recently that gives a unique perspective to our eagle fans. For those who watched our Eagle Cam during the last month, you know we often saw the eaglets sitting at the very edge of the nest together, and we wondered what they were doing. Maryland photographer Skip Conover recently took a photo of an eagle nest in Annapolis, Maryland, and his photo shows us what our own eaglets were likely doing. [The nest is a former osprey nest and is in close proximity to a couple homes.] In Skip’s photo we see the two eaglets are sitting near the edge of the nest because the parent is perched nearby on a branch. So when our eaglets seemed fascinated by something near the nest (but out of our view), it was likely one of the adults! Thanks to Skip for this interesting photo from his local nest.

Final Videos

To view the videos below, left-click on the video link to open in Windows Media Player or right-click the link and choose “Save Link As” to download. And remember that these videos are also available on our Blackwater YouTube Channel.

In the first video below we see the eaglets at almost six weeks of age. The father eagle has just flown in with a fish (which was still flapping a bit), and begins to eat it. The mother eagle then flies in and takes the fish from the father. The father (convinced he’s lost his meal) flies off, and the mother begins feeding Choptank.

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In the second video, we see a scene not too long after the first video where the father brings in another fish. This time he offers some food to Chesapeake, but eventually the mother decides she should be in charge of feeding, so she takes the fish and begins feeding Choptank. If you look closely, you can see Choptank already has a bulging crop (on its chest), so the eaglet had already been recently fed. This was a good day for fish. :-)

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In the final video, we see the eaglets at almost eight weeks old. In the opening scene, Chesapeake is tearing off some fish by herself while Choptank gets fed by the mother eagle. Then Chesapeake holds out her wings and gives us a great view of her impressive wingspan. And in the final segment, Chesapeake begins exercising her wings, and we can really see how much stronger the eaglets are here, since they’re only a few weeks from flying.

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We want to thank all our cam watchers who followed our two chicks from the first day they entered the world (remember the snowstorm when we thought they wouldn’t survive!) up to the time they both successfully fledged. We were lucky to have had another great year here at the Blackwater Eagle Cam, and our streak of at least two healthy fledgling eaglets each year continues.

We also want to thank all those who sent in their photos and questions throughout the season. And finally we want to thank Tom Miller, our ranger, who kindly took on the duty of taping footage from the cam so we could put together these wonderful video clips.

The Eagle Cam will stay online for now, but at some point soon we’ll be taking it offline. As you can see, once the eaglets become airborne, they don’t spend a lot of time at the nest, and soon the only thing to see will be the occasional squirrel or rare eagle visit. But we will be back online in December for a new season, so we hope you’ll make plans to join us again at the end of the year.

Until December,
Lisa - webmaster
Contact

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

Eaglets eight weeks old

We wanted to get caught up with our latest batch of eaglet videos, so we’ll do that in this post. Remember that these videos are also available on our Blackwater YouTube Channel.

To view the videos below, left-click on the video link to open in Windows Media Player or right-click the link and choose “Save Link As” to download.

In this first video from March 27, we see the two young eaglets scratching their new pin feathers, then later in the clip we see a cute scene where they play Simon Says and both stretch their left wing out — one right after the other.

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In the second video from March 27, we see a feeding session, and at the end we see Chesapeake (the older eaglet) take a few nips at the parent’s tail feathers before the parent leaves the nest.

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In the first video from March 29, we see a collection of activities from the eaglets — slicing, stretching and scratching. Just a day in the life. :-)

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In the second video from March 29, we see Chesapeake attempting to pull off some meat from a leftover meal in the nest, then we see a nice wing flap from the same eaglet.

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In the first video from April 5, we see the father eagle feeding the eaglets, but then the mother eagle comes and takes some food from him and then begins to participate in the feeding session as well.

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And in the final video, also from April 5, we see the eaglets engaging in some playful snapping as bedtime nears. At the end of the clip, it almost looks like the mother attempts to end the squabble by putting grass on the older chick.

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We hope you enjoyed these videos, which offer a nice recap of our eaglets’ early days. And in case you missed the posting, we have chosen our winners in the Eaglet-Naming Contest (see our contest page). Now the eaglets are called Chesapeake and Choptank. Congratulations to our winners and much thanks to all who participated.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
Contact

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

Eaglets almost five weeks old

We have a few new videos to post in the blog. These videos are also on our BlackwaterRefuge YouTube Channel — see the first three videos on the channel page.

To view the videos below, left-click on the video link to open in Windows Media Player, or right-click the link and choose “Save Link As” to download.

In the March 8 clip posted below, you notice a common sight from this season — the mother eagle digging up grass and putting it over the fish meal and then the eaglets. We’ve noticed the mother eagle covering the chicks more frequently this year, although we’re unsure as to why she’s doing it even now when they’re bigger. But she probably covers them to camouflage the chicks (or the meal) from birds flying over the nest. After this clip ended, the eaglets quicky uncovered themselves again. :-)

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In the clip from March 15, you see the father eagle fly in with a fish during a pause in a rainstorm. The mother takes the fish and starts to feed one of the eaglets, although the eaglet seems to get distracted by something toward the end of the clip and the mother is left holding out the food.

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And in the clip from March 21, you see the parent come in with a meal that appears to be the foot of a bird. The younger eaglet starts to feed, but the older eaglet asserts its dominance by pecking the other chick on the head, and the younger eaglet puts its head down and turns away from the meal. This is how the bullying by the older eaglet worked, although there does appear to be much less bullying in the nest at this time. At the end of this clip, the younger chick sneaks a bite.

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We have some additional video from the nest, but I haven’t had time to edit it, so we’ll save it for another post. But both eaglets seem to be doing well and, as I mentioned earlier, there does appear to be less bullying now that the younger bird is getting bigger.

Also, I wanted to repeat something I mentioned on the cam page — folks have asked about the gender of our chicks. We won’t know that until they are close to fledging. By then they will be almost fully grown and we’ll be able to compare their size (to each other and to their parents) to see what gender they are.

On a slightly different topic, I had someone ask about us setting up a deer cam, but the person didn’t include their email address. We don’t plan on starting a deer cam, but there is a good one currently online in western Pennsylvania. Be forewarned that they have a couple different cam shots, and one of them sometimes has a deer carcass, which is used to attract other animals like foxes and birds. The PA cam is especially interesting at night when the live deer and raccoons can appear in large numbers. During the early morning, the cam often has wild turkeys.

As a reminder in case you missed it, we recently updated the Eagle Cam Gallery. Also, our Eaglet-Naming Contest is open until April 18.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
Contact

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