In case you missed the announcement, we have started the 2010 Eaglet-Naming Contest. Please visit our contest page for all the details, and thanks for participating.
Our two eaglets are now about one month old, and we’re clearly seeing feathers developing on both birds, but especially on our older chick. These pin feathers are visible mostly on their backs and along the edges of their wings.
If you’re new to the term “pin feathers” it basically means newly forming feathers. As each feather develops, it is encased in a thin shaft of waxy keratin (like your fingernails), which will eventually fall off or be pulled off by the eaglet, thus allowing the new feather to unfurl and grow to its full size. Looking at the little sheaths and pointy new feathers from a distance, they look like little pins on the eaglets’ bodies. To show you a close-up example, here’s a great look at pin feathers on an osprey chick. In the photo, you can see the shaft (it’s blue because it’s filled with blood, which feeds the feather), and the feather that’s protruding out. The blood supply is also why pin feathers are sometimes called blood feathers.
An adult bald eagle can have around 7,000 feathers on its body, and although the feathers are light, together they will weigh twice as much as the eagle’s skeleton.
Under U.S. and Canadian law, a permit is required for anyone to possess authentic bald eagle or golden eagle feathers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service runs the National Eagle Repository in Colorado where feathers from dead eagles are collected and distributed to Native Americans so they can legally use them for their ceremonial purposes.
According to the National Eagle Repository, the demand is great and “applicants can expect to wait about 3 and one half years for a whole bird order to be filled. Approximately 95% of the orders are for whole eagles. Currently, there are over 5000 people on the waiting list for approximately 1000 eagles the Repository receives each year.”
Possession of live or dead eagles or their feathers, without special permits, is a federal offense, punishable by stiff fines and possible prison sentences, but unfortunately that does not discourage some parties from killing eagles and moving them across the border between the U.S. and Canada. Eagle traffic on the black market amounts to millions of dollars each year, and a single bald eagle feather head dress can bring more than $10,000.
For our bald eaglets, their feathers are important not because they’re valued by humans, but because these feathers will give them the power of flight. Although our eaglets are only four weeks old, we would expect them to possibly fledge as early as 10 weeks old, although it might be as long as 13-14 weeks depending on the individual eaglet.
As the eaglets’ feathers continue to come in, the young birds will start to look a little comical in that they’ll be sporting various combinations of down and developing feathers. In this photo of a young bald eaglet, you can see the youngster has white down on its head, darker down on some of its lower body and newly developing feathers — all at the same time! Eventually the down will disappear from view and we’ll only see the coating of dark brown feathers. Right before our eaglets fledge, they will look like this — like a handsome and powerful raptor.
As I mentioned on the cam page a while back, it’s hard to believe that our little flapping balls of fuzz will grow into mighty soaring birds of prey, but that’s part of the miracle of nature. And we’re very lucky to be along for the ride.
We’ll update both our galleries later this week. Thanks to those sending in their photos.
Until next time,
Lisa – webmaster
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eagles, wildlife refuge, eagle cam, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland
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