Our Eagle Cam has a technical problem, and since the eaglets haven’t been at the nest much due to their growing independence, we decided this might be a good time to take the cam offline for this season. The adult eagles normally return for the new nesting season in late November or early December, and that’s when we plan to be live again with our coverage of this wonderfully productive eagle nest.

Avis and Aquila — our two eaglets — seemed to be doing very well with their flying, since we saw them repeatedly after they fledged (see the latest Gallery update). They showed up at the nest whenever they needed to rest or when a parent dropped off a fish for them, and it appeared the parents were doing a very good job of taking care of the eaglets. So we have high hopes that both eaglets will continue to do well as they fly around the Refuge and learn more about what it means to be an adult eagle.

Over time we would expect Avis and Aquila to learn to fish for themselves, and they’ll likely learn to fish in the Blackwater River, which is the main body of water at the Refuge. If you’ve never seen a bald eagle fishing, I should point out that they have a different fishing style than ospreys. It’s true that both bald eagles and ospreys catch their prey near the surface of the water, but while an osprey will dive into the water to capture the meal, a bald eagle will usually fly over the surface of the water and pluck the fish out with its talons. Sometimes the fish might be too heavy, and the eagle will be forced into the water. At times like this it’s not uncommon for the bald eagle to swim to shore with the fish in order to get its prey on land. So if anyone asks you if bald eagles can swim, the answer is yes.

If you’d like to see a video of an American bald eagle fishing, click on the thumbnail to the right; this WMV file is courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Also, here is an excellent video from the ARKive nature website showing a white-tailed eagle (from Europe) capturing a fish. White-tailed eagles are the nearest relation to our North American bald eagles, and they fish in a similar manner. After watching these videos I think you’ll have a better appreciation for the unique skills that our eaglets must master in order to pluck moving fish from murky water while gliding through the air at the same time.

So our eaglets will spend the upcoming months learning to fish, hunt, scavenge, and become expert flyers. They’ll also likely learn how to steal fish from the neighboring ospreys (maybe even our Osprey Cam parents!), and then eventually they’ll strike out on their own and begin exploring areas outside Blackwater Refuge.

Chesapeake Bay bald eagles do not normally migrate — the adults spend most of their year in this general area — but immature bald eagles are not tied to a territory and a nest, so they will normally fan out over a broader area (maybe even into Canada) before they return to settle in the Chesapeake Bay region when they are around four years old and are ready to mate. When they reach the mating age, they will also have their fully white head and tail — just like their parents.

We wish Avis and Aquila the best of luck. Their parents have given them an excellent start in life, so we hope for the best. And we want to thank all our Eagle Cam fans for supporting our birds through another successful season at our Eagle Cam nest — especially those who sent in so many wonderful photos and questions.

We really do have a wonderful track record at this particular nest, so we anticipate the 2010-2011 season will also be an exciting one as well, and we hope all of you will join us when we are once again privileged to watch the nesting season of the American bald eagle.

Until next season,
Lisa – webmaster
Support the Blackwater Cams
Contact Us

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

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 27th, 2010 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Blackwater NWR, Eagle Cam, Eaglets, Fledging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.