Our eaglets are now almost two weeks old, and we have some observations and videos to share regarding their development.
First, we continue to be amazed at the quantity of food in the Eagle Cam nest. I do know both parents are bringing in food (not just the male), but this is the most food we’ve seen on the Eagle Cam I think at any stage during our six years online. At one point, I saw what looked like six fish in the nest, and we’ve also seen at least two birds (maybe a duck and a red-winged blackbird) brought in. We don’t know if this level of fishing/hunting will continue, but the eaglets are enjoying a bounty of food and it does seem to have reduced some of the competition in the nest between the two youngsters.
We still see some pecking activity from both chicks, and the older eaglet has established itself as “first to feed,” which is probably why it’s getting a size advantage over the younger bird, but neither eaglet is having to fight hard for a meal.
Speaking of the large volume of food, I’ve noticed that during meals, sometimes we can see that the eaglets’ crops already contain food. (A crop is a pouch on the eaglet’s chest where extra food is stored). So the eaglets are still eating even while their crops already appear full.
One other item I wanted to mention before we go to our new videos — one of our cam watchers asked about the rate of growth for our eaglets. Bald eaglets are the fastest growing birds in North America, so they’re changing right before our eyes. On the American Bald Eagle website they offer some guidance on eaglet development, and they also have some great photos of bald eaglets in the nest:
The young birds grow rapidly, they add one pound to their body weight every four or five days…By three weeks they are 1 foot high and their feet and beaks are very nearly adult size.
At three or four weeks, this eaglet [see website photo] is covered in its secondary coat of gray down. In another two weeks or so, black juvenile feathers will begin to grow in. While downy feathers are excellent insulators, they are useless as air foils, and must be replaced with juvenile feathers before an eaglet can take its first flight, some 10 to 13 weeks after hatching.
Between four and five weeks, the birds are able to stand, at which time they can began tearing up their own food. At six weeks, the eaglets are very nearly as large as their parents.
At eight weeks, the appetites of the young birds are at their greatest. While parents hunt almost continuous to feed them, back at the nest the eaglets are beginning to stretch their wings in response to gusts of wind and may even be lifted off their feet for short periods.
And now for our new videos. Note that these videos are also being offered on our YouTube channel for those who prefer to view them that way. For the clips below, left-click on the link to play the Windows Media Video file or right-click and choose “Save As” to download to your computer.
In our clip from March 4, we see the mother eagle feeding the older chick, while the younger chick is looking in the opposite direction. The younger bird has learned that the older sibling gets fed first, and in the middle part of the clip we see a little pecking by the older bird to remind the younger chick that it should be submissive. But then our mother eagle does something interesting — she pulls the fish over to the side of the nest where the younger eaglet is located and begins feeding the chick.
I’ve often read that raptor parents will usually feed the chick that is the most aggressive and that is in front of the parent, but clearly our mother eagle is seeking out the more passive chick and attempting to feed both her young regardless of whether they’re actively looking to be fed or not. Very cool clip.
In the second video, which is the first of three clips from March 5, we see a normal feeding session with the older chick in its position of dominance, but as the session progresses, the younger chick asserts itself and moves in for a few bites. Normally I would expect the older eaglet to pounce on the younger sibling, but the older bird doesn’t react — again I think part of the reason is the large quantity of food in the nest.
In the second clip from March 5, we see our younger chick showing off a new skill — what falconers call “slicing,” which means defecating. Eaglets and osprey chicks are able to shoot it quite far, which helps keep the center part of the nest clean (although the rim of the nest is starting to show some of the whitewash).
In the third clip from March 5, we see a funny scene where the older eaglet isn’t ready for nap time, and keeps its head and body out from under Mom for as long as it can. (Notice at the beginning of the shot that you can see the full crop of the older bird.) We also get to see the chick yawn, and then see it watch as Mom moves grass around the nest. Finally the chick heads under the parent for a nap.
With the milder weather and the eaglets’ thicker down coming in, they are starting to spend more time out from under the parent during the day.
And in the final clip, which is from March 6, we see the mother feeding our two eaglets, but the younger eaglet gets passed a chunk of fish that is just too big, and it has trouble swallowing the fish. The older bird attempts to take it away (“If you’re not going to eat that, I will.”) but the younger bird eventually seems to swallow it, only to be passed an equally large piece, which it drops. It’s clear that sometimes parents have to “downsize” food chunks so the small eaglets can swallow them.
Osprey Cam
Finally I wanted to give a quick update on the Osprey Cam. As you can see, we realigned the camera, and we also moved the pole closer to our access road, which should help with future maintenance. We have noticed that the view is tilted — we tried to avoid that but the weight of the camera arm moved the cam more than we thought it would, so our apologies. We’ll try to fix that on the next visit.
We expect our ospreys to return around St. Patrick’s Day. Normally the male returns first and then the female (they migrate to different areas in Central and South America). Once they return, they won’t likely start nest-building right away, as it takes them a few days to eat and rest up from migration, but after they’ve regained their strength and bonded a little, we should see them bringing in new sticks for the platform.
If either of our parents did not survive during the winter season, then the remaining adult will have to hook up with a new mate after it arrives at the osprey platform.
I should also mention that like many places on the East Coast, our water osprey platforms took a real hit during the winter season. Ice on the rivers took out many of our platforms, and we’re trying to replace them now, before the birds return. The same is true for tree nests up and down the coast — many of them were wiped out by the snow. None of this affects our Osprey Cam nest, but some of your other favorite nests (at Blackwater and other locales) might not be quite the same this year or might need to be repaired before the birds can use them.
Until next time,
Lisa – webmaster
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eagle, wildlife refuge, eaglets, eagle video, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland
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