I’m starting off this blog post with something a little out of the ordinary, but we received some sad news last week. Some of you might remember seeing Aline Paquet’s name in our galleries (usually as Aline or Aline P). Some might even remember that in a 2007 blog post, I shared a photo Aline had sent from her home area of Quebec. We just learned that in February Aline was told she had cancer, and sadly she passed away earlier this month.

Aline was a valued cam watcher, sharing many photos that contributed greatly to our galleries and to our understanding of both the eagles and ospreys. She was also a big fan of the American Panda Cams (as many of us are), and she had dreamed of a trip to America to see Blackwater, the pandas, and some of her other favorite “Internet” spots. We will miss Aline and her enthusiastic love of nature. We’re glad she did not suffer long.

Note: The Eaglet-Naming Contest is Open

Eaglets three weeks old

Eaglet #1

When the eaglets first hatched, we were very excited that they were born only a day apart (meaning they’d be close in size) and we were just as excited to see lots of food coming to the nest, which we knew would reduce the sibling rivalry between the chicks. Unfortunately, this situation has changed. For some reason the parents cut back on the food supply, which increased the competition between the chicks, and now the older chick has firmly established itself as Eaglet #1.

The older bird gets fed first, gets the most food, is growing larger, and spends most of his non-eating time making sure the younger eaglet keeps its head down and acts submissive. During meal time, you’ve probably noticed the younger eaglet often keeps its back turned and head down until the older eaglet has finished eating. This is because the younger bird has learned that Eaglet #1 gets to eat first — and if the younger bird objects, he gets pecked and harassed.

We do believe that both birds are getting enough food — in fact today was an especially good day with fish and a rabbit in the nest. So we don’t worry about the younger eaglet surviving, we just wish things were a little easier for the youngster. The good news is this situation will not last forever. Each day the smaller bird grows bigger (although not as fast as its well-fed sibling!), and eventually it will be big enough that the older bird won’t be able to mess with it as much.

Cam watchers have asked about photos they’ve seen where the younger bird was near food in the nest but did not eat. The eaglets are still small enough that they can’t tear off meat for themselves — they are dependent on the parents to do that, but this will also change. Eventually the younger eaglet will be strong enough to tear off food and feed itself, so if there is leftover food in the nest, it won’t have to wait for a parent to feed it.

On a final observation, I know some cam watchers were worried about how often the chicks are left uncovered. The birds are able to keep themselves quite warm now, especially since they have developed their heavier and woolier second coat of down, so the parents don’t need to sit on them as much. We do see the mother return at night and stay with the chicks, but this is more for protection since the eaglets are still small enough to possibly be a victim of a Great horned owl attack. If it rains, then protection from the parent is still needed since the eaglets do not have their waterproof feathers yet, but each day we see evidence that the eaglets are beginning to develop tiny pin feathers that will eventually provide them with a nice waterproof coat of feathers like their parents have, and this will keep them safe from the elements.

We’re very close to opening our Eaglet-Naming Contest — I’ve approved the contest page and we’re just wrapping up some final technical details, then we’ll make the announcement. Thanks for your patience.

Oh — and as a final parting gift, we just recently discovered an old photo on one of our computers showing the Eagle Cam tree. I know lots of cam watchers have expressed an interest in seeing the tree, so I thought I’d share the shot.

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

Eaglets almost three weeks old

As some cam watchers have noticed, in the last two days the adult eagles have cut back their meals to the early morning and late afternoon. We’re not sure why they’re doing this — but it does seem a strange coincidence that it started just as the ospreys were returning to the Refuge. Both parents appear to be healthy and the fishing is good at the Refuge, but the lack of mid-day meals has increased the bullying somewhat in the nest (as it tends to do) and we’re seeing our younger eaglet keeping his head down a lot — trying to look submissive for the older eaglet.

Hopefully the parents will pick up the meal pace here shortly and food will come more freely.

Ospreys Return

We were very excited to hear on Friday that ospreys had been spotted at Blackwater Refuge. And then on Saturday morning, we got our first sighting of an osprey on the Osprey Cam platform. The bird appeared to have a white chest, and it looked smaller than the larger female osprey, so we suspect it was a male. We’re not sure if it’s our resident male (we don’t band or tag our ospreys), but he did come back to the nest on and off, so it’s possible it’s the male owner of the cam platform.

Male ospreys usually return north first, with females following shortly thereafter. Our ospreys winter in Central and South America, so if our male looked a little tired, he surely was. The returning ospreys usually hang out for a while, resting and feeding and recovering from their long journey, so we don’t expect much nest building at this point.

Each year when the ospreys return, they usually find most of their sticks gone from the Osprey Cam platform. Strong winds blow out a lot of the sticks, and the eagles might take some for their own nests. But once the osprey couple returns and begins building the nest in earnest, it doesn’t take them too long to turn an empty nest into a full nest. Biologists believe the nest building helps bond the couple; also, adding fresh material means there won’t be old food and bugs in the nest for the new year.

We haven’t seen a female on the nest yet, and we can’t be sure she survived migration. Ospreys face a lot of dangers down south — mostly from fish farmers and livestock owners who shoot ospreys in large numbers — but ospreys are usually pretty loyal to their mates, so if our female made it through the winter, she should return to the nest. If she didn’t survive, our male will likely be able to find another mate, especially since he has such a fine nest as the cam platform.

Photographer Bob Quinn was at the Refuge on Friday and witnessed some of the early returning ospreys. He wrote me an email to say that he had just seen an eagle try to steal a fish from an osprey, and that pretty much sums up the unusual relationship that bald eagles have with ospreys. While we’ve never seen the bald eagles challenge the ospreys for possession of the Osprey Cam platform, we have seen them regularly attempt to steal fish from ospreys. And since eagles are much bigger raptors, they often succeed at robbing the fish hawks of their meal.

But ospreys are not always helpless victims, and often they will team up as a couple to keep the eagle at bay. In fact while Bob Quinn was at the Refuge, he saw an osprey intercept an eagle that was chasing another osprey with a fish. Our ranger, Tom Miller, has also seen osprey couples team up to keep an eagle from stealing a meal from a parent that was trying to return to the nest with its prize.

Bob has posted some photos from his Friday trip to the Refuge — if you scroll to the bottom of the gallery page you can see the osprey intercepting the eagle. You can also see some photos of a male osprey in a tree eating a fish and photos of three ospreys chasing each other around one of our more popular water platforms. Much thanks to Bob for giving us this in-person look at the return of our popular ospreys.

And speaking of osprey galleries, I also wanted to share another gallery link that a cam watcher shared with me that shows some amazing osprey action photography.

And on a final note, we’re preparing a web page for the start of our annual Eaglet-Naming Contest, so for those who have asked, we’re getting close to opening the contest. When it starts, we’ll post the news on the cam page and here in the web log.

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

Eaglets about two weeks old

We’re doing a quick post tonight to share some video clips from March 5 that I just edited.

I’m posting the three videos (WMV format) here for those who told me that they’re on a network that can’t access YouTube. But if you can access YouTube, you can view these videos on our Blackwater YouTube channel. Just look for the three 2009 videos with “Two Newly Hatched Eaglets” in the title.

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 first video below, the mother has just come in with a fish and the father eventually stands up to reveal the two new eaglets — both only a couple days old. After the father leaves, the mother feeds a few bits to the chicks — the younger bird on the left and the older chick on the right.

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In the second video clip, if you watch very carefully about 13 seconds into the clip, the younger eaglet slices (a falconry term for defecating). The eaglets are able to shoot it out quite far, even right after hatching; this helps keep the nest clean.

After showing off its slicing skills, the younger eaglet then decides it’s time to wallop on its sibling. After watching the videotapes from the Refuge, I have to say that this is the most aggression I’ve seen from one of our younger eaglets. Maybe it’s because the two chicks are only a day apart and the younger eaglet thinks it has a shot at being #1.

The older eaglet puts up with the pecking for a while — trying to concentrate on the possible meal — but eventually the older bird has to respond and both chicks go at it. This sequence eventually ended with the mother giving up on the meal and going over and sitting on them both.

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In the final video clip, we see one of the eaglets stand up briefly as the father eagle flies in. He then moves what could be some old food in the nest and takes his place on the chicks.

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It’s not surprising to see our eaglets pecking at one another — that’s what young eaglets do — but it was a little surprising to see the younger bird being so aggressive. But that’s why we watch each year — we’re always learning something new. Eventually this aggression will fade as the eaglets grow, and at some point they’ll become more like playmates.

Our ranger is taping more video for us, so we’ll post more video clips in the near future, once we have an interesting collection to share.

Also, I’m working on a Gallery update, which I hope to have posted in the next few days. Thanks to everyone for their photos!

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
Contact

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