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
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Avis and Aquila are now about 13 weeks old, and we believe both eaglets have officially fledged. As you can see from the cam, it also appears one of them hit the cam box again, giving us yet another view of the nest tree. This happens each season, but one of these years we’ll find a way to secure the cam box tight enough so that it doesn’t move so easily.

We expect to continue seeing our eaglets on and off for the next month, although over time they’ll become less dependent on the nest and their parents, and eventually the nest will have such a small amount of activity that we’ll turn it off for the summer. But for now, we’re still enjoying some eaglet antics.

Our eaglets don’t realize it, but they’re very lucky in that they were hatched at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, which has one of the largest breeding populations of bald eagles in the United States. Our eaglets will find lots of quality fishing spots, as well as lots of other bald eagles to mingle with. Sometimes when looking out the observatory window at our Visitor Center, you can see immature eagles hanging out together around the marsh or perching near each other in the tall loblolly pine trees — activities our eaglets might participate in one day. In the meantime, our Eagle Cam parents will be showing our eaglets how to catch a meal and where to roost at night, when the eaglets are not sleeping in the nest.

If you’ve never been to Blackwater NWR, and you’d like to see the environment where our eaglets will be flying and playing, be sure to visit our Facebook gallery — Blackwater NWR Overview — for some excellent photos of the Refuge habitat.

Our Eagle Cam parents did a wonderful job getting their two eggs through the record snowfall we had earlier this year (when we really thought they’d lost them), and now they’ve done an excellent job raising two confident eaglets that have fledged. The eagle parents have been an inspiration to watch, and we feel very lucky that we have this pair on our Eagle Cam.

Below we have three new videos to share with you. These might be the last eaglet videos we post, since we’ll soon start recording action on our Osprey Cam as hatching time draws near for our three eggs. As always, please note that the videos below 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 first video from May 15, we see a parent (possibly the father) fly in with a very small fish and immediately abandon it to the aggressive older eaglet — Avis — who then begins mantling the food, just because she’s big and she can. Soon Aquila notices his big sister isn’t eating it, so he takes the initiative and lifts the meal after offering her a peck to show he means business.

In the next video, which is the first from May 22, we again see the parent bring a fish and quickly release it to what appears to be Avis. It’s important to remember that at this age, Avis is bigger than her father and dominates the interactions between them, at least when it comes to the all-important meal time.

And in the final video, which is the second clip from May 22, we see a few takeoffs and landings from our newly fledged eaglets. In the first two shots, notice how the nest and camera shake from the power of the birds. They really have turned into mighty raptors.

We appreciate the photos that our cam watchers have sent in from the Eagle Cam. We’ll try to get the gallery updated next week, and we’ll continue to update the gallery until the Eagle Cam is turned off, probably sometime in late June, depending on when the action stops.

Until next time,
Lisa – webmaster
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We have some new videos to share with you, and I think after watching them you’ll notice the dramatic change in our eaglets’ behavior now that they’re around 10 weeks old and very close to flying. Our eaglets are definitely becoming young raptors. No longer do they meekly sit in the nest and wait for the parent to feed them. If they see some food they want, they go for it.

Please note that the videos below 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 first video, which is from April 16, we see one of our eaglets flapping and hopping around the nest, and you can see how much stronger their wing movements are now. It’s possible that our oldest eaglet — Avis — is branching a bit, but I don’t believe both eaglets are branching because we often see at least one of them in the nest. But in the coming few weeks, both eaglets should be hopping out onto the branches of their nest tree to prepare for their first flight. (First flights are normally at 10-13 weeks of age).

In our second video, from April 23, we see an interesting interlude between our eaglets. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing, but they appear to be simulating the movements a grown bird would make when feeding an eaglet food.

And in our final video, which is from April 24, we get a dramatic look at one of our eaglets practically attacking the adult (and biting its talon) as it returns to the nest with a fish. This aggressive behavior shows our eaglets are rapidly becoming assertive young raptors that go after what they want, and this eaglet wanted the meal.

After the parent regains control of the meal in the video, both eaglets eat politely for a while, but then the aggressive eaglet one again lunges for the fish and grabs a big chunk, leaving the adult with a small bit of the remainder. At the end of the video, we also see the aggressive chick exhibiting some mantling behavior, which is when a bird protects its meal by spreading its wings and body over the food.

We did hear from one of our Refuge volunteers that while watching the cam monitor, they saw a parent drop off a still-flapping fish in the nest. Both eaglets then jumped on it and ate it by themselves. So our young birds are proving that they have learned how to grab live prey, kill it, and eat it themselves. Our chicks are growing up.

We’ve asked the volunteers and staff at the Refuge to keep an eye on the Eagle Cam monitor and let us know if they see any signs of branching or first flights in the coming weeks.

Other Eagle News

A couple quick notes. Be sure to check out the CCB Eagle Nest Blog to learn about the banding of the Norfolk Eagle Cam eaglets. They have some wonderful photos on that blog.

Also, they opened the hacking tower door for Noah — the Carolina Raptor Center eaglet that was raised by captive parents — although I don’t believe she flew on her first day.

Until next time,
Lisa – webmaster
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As we announced on our Eaglet-Naming Contest results page, we now have names for our eaglets. The names are Aquila (Latin for eagle) and Avis (Latin for bird). Aquila is considered a male name and Avis is considered a female name, which works out well because based on the size of our eaglets, we believe we might just have a female and male in the nest.

The eaglets are almost nine weeks old, and fledging can occur as early as ten weeks of age, so our eaglets are almost fully grown, and that’s the time when we can see if one is bigger than the other. The larger eagles in the nest are females, since females are almost one-third bigger than the males. Biologists speculate that the females are larger because they frequently stay at the nest to protect the young, while the males are smaller because they must be agile hunters that bring a lot of the food to their families during nesting season.

Statistics seem to show that there is a better chance that females will be the first-hatched chick, and this year we think our older bird might be the female.

In addition to their size, our eaglets are showing other signs of maturity. For example, we recently saw one of the chicks aggressively move toward a fish that the father eagle brought to the nest. When a female chick is almost fully grown, she can dominate the male adult due to her size. Eventually the father eagle might not even land on the nest — he’ll just drop off the food and let the eaglets fight over it. During such events, we’re likely to see one of the eaglets mantling over the food (see example from 2008). Mantling is when a raptor spreads its wings and body over the food to tell every other creature that the food belongs to them and them alone. Again, these will all be signs that our eaglets are maturing and well on their way to becoming self-sufficient eagles.

But before our chicks are ready for the outside world, they first have to learn to fly. So the next milestone we’ll be looking for in the nest is branching. Branching is when the eaglets begin hopping out onto the branches of their nest tree, where they can practice perching and feeling the wind against their outstretched wings. We have an animated GIF (975KB) from another nest that allows you to see how an eaglet works its way out onto the branch, even though it can’t fly just yet.

In 2006, our Eagle Cam at Blackwater got pushed out of position a couple of times, and the benefit was we got to see some of the branches around the nest where our eaglets could perch. Here in Photo 1 and Photo 2 you can see that the cam nest tree has several large branches available for the eaglets. There is also a branch on the left side of the trunk that has been popular with past eaglets as well.

We would expect our older bird — Avis — to be the first to begin branching. Unfortunately when the eaglets begin to branch, they won’t be as visible in the nest, but at least we’ll know their absence means they’re continuing to develop as healthy eaglets should.

In our next web log entry we’ll have new videos of our eaglets. Thanks again to everyone who entered our contest and also thanks to those who have been sending in photos of our birds for the gallery.

Until next time,
Lisa – webmaster
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We have several videos to share that really show how big our eaglets are getting, but first we wanted to make a quick announcement. We have a new t-shirt in our Eagle’s Nest Gift Store at the Blackwater NWR Visitor Center (also available online through mail order), and it features the most famous endangered species currently living at Blackwater Refuge — our Delmarva fox squirrel.

Blackwater hosts the largest natural population of Delmarva fox squirrels, and this handsome shirt highlights both our famous squirrel and Blackwater Refuge, so be sure to check it out. And remember that all proceeds of gift store sales go towards supporting programs at the Refuge, like our raptor cams.

And now on to our videos….

Please note that the videos below 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 video from March 25, we get a great view of both parents feeding the chicks. The father eagle (on the right) is trying to feed our younger chick, but the chick is focused on the mother eagle. Eventually the eaglet realizes the father is holding out food for it and takes advantage of both parents being available at mealtime.

In our video from March 28, we see the younger eaglet slice onto the shoulder of the older eaglet (oops!) and then the older eaglet gives a nice little flap. The younger eaglet then pulls on one of the mother’s feathers, and also offers a nice flapping exhibition. Note how the nest is rocking in the strong winds.

In our final video, this one from April 4, we can see the eaglets being fed by one parent when the second parent flies in. The older eaglet pulls at some food in the nest and appears to try to tear off a bit, but eventually goes to the mother eagle who is offering a fish meal.

In years past, we’ve noticed that even when the eaglets were already fledged and fully capable of feeding themselves, they sometimes would still go to a parent and let the adult feed them. I guess the eaglets figure if the parent is there, why not let them do the work. :-)

A final reminder that our Eaglet-Naming Contest will end on April 15, so if you’re still thinking up your names, don’t wait too much longer. Thanks to all those who have already entered.

Until next time,
Lisa – webmaster
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First, a quick reminder — be sure to enter your names in our Eaglet-Naming Contest before April 15, which is when the contest ends. And thanks to those who have already submitted names.

These days our five-week-old eaglets are sometimes a bit hard to find in the nest. They’re starting to spend a lot of time lying along the edges of the nest. About a week ago, one of our adults must have hit the cam box, because our view has shifted slightly to the left; this makes it a little harder to see the eaglets when they sit down by the trunk of the nest tree.

Our older eaglet is quickly developing its feathers, and our younger chick is not far behind. The slight age advantage that our older bird has is the reason why it’s getting darker sooner, but our other chick will soon be dark brown as well.

Before Noah (from the Carolina Rapter Center) was moved to the hacking tower, someone sent me a photo of him, and it offered insight into how big our older chick likely is in comparison to our parents. Our Eagle Cam, with its view looking down into the nest, can sometimes offer a deceiving image of how big our chicks are, but make no mistake, they’re getting very big, and once their first coat of feathers becomes complete, they’ll be as big as our adults.

As for eventual fledging, we’re starting to see more shots of our eaglets flapping their wings, and this is necessary exercise that will prepare them for that first flight, which should come in May. Over the coming weeks, the eaglets will do a lot of flapping and hopping around the nest. Then the next big step will be branching, where the eaglets will hop/flap out onto the branches of their home tree, building up their courage for that first flight. Then sometime in May our birds will take that all-important first flight.

It’s an oft-repeated statement that quite a few bald eaglets don’t survive their first flight, but we’ve never lost one on our Eagle Cam, so we’re expecting our eaglets to do fine and return to the nest in one piece. After that historic flight, we’ll still see them quite a bit on the cam, as it will take another month or so for the eaglets to become independent enough that they’ll be out of the nest for most of the day. But eventually — probably in late June or early July — we’ll see very little of them as they fly around the Refuge with their parents and other eagles, learning to fish, hunt, perch and generally become skilled eagles before the next winter arrives when they’ll be on their own.

Several cam watchers have asked when our eaglets will get their white head and tail. Although our eaglets will reach adult size rather quickly, it will take about four years for them to get a fully white head and tail, which is the mark of an adult bald eagle that is ready for breeding. Our eaglets will start out with dark brown feathers, then they will slowly go through various stages of feather changes — courting a mix of white and brown — until they eventually get a white head and tail. The images below show some of the stages their feathers will go through before they truly look like the familiar American bald eagle:

Biologists speculate that immature or sub-adult birds have different coloring because it’s a way to let adult birds know that the young birds are not a threat to mates or nests, since these young birds will not be ready to breed until about the time they get their white head and tail, although there have been a couple Eagle Cams that had a breeding bird with some brown streaks on its head, indicating it was a very young breeder.

Note about Golden Eagles

Once our eaglets have left the nest and are flying around their home area, they’ll find plenty of adventure out in Blackwater Refuge. Not only will they have quite a few adult and immature bald eagles to interact with, they might even occasionally tangle with a golden eagle.

Back in February, we reported on a series of photos that had been posted on the Internet showing a golden eagle attacking a white-tailed deer in a cornfield. Not long after we posted those photos, we heard from Greg Inskip, who is familiar with the few golden eagles that we sometimes get at Blackwater Refuge. Greg passed along a similar story that I wanted to share regarding something that he saw at Blackwater two years ago, involving a sika deer, an immature bald eagle, and a golden eagle:

“The second Golden Eagle was a one-and-a-half year old at 8:55 am [1/20/08], kiting on wind deflected off the north face of the woods on the west side of Route 335, north of the old house and silo field (Hog Range). Mostly white tail with dark tip, but with dark feathers in the middle. Little or no white in the wing; bleached upperwing coverts. Looked as big or bigger than juvenile Bald Eagle that briefly mobbed her, so my guess is that this is a female.

This second Golden Eagle was kiting at about twice treetop height. She evaded the Bald Eagle, folded her wings and dropped toward the ground at a 45 degree angle, headed west. She leveled out about three feet over corn stubble, moving very fast. I saw dark bodies in the field ahead of her and thought at first that they were Turkeys, but they were Sika Deer. Two ran to either side and then back east toward me, white hair on their rumps raised in alarm. The eagle pursued at least one more deer into a patch of trees on the west side of the field, out of sight. She clearly missed because she was in the air again a few minutes after the attack. She rose high and glided downwind (southeast) out of sight over the Refuge.

The fact that the Sikas looked Turkey size may mean that they were farther away than I thought, but I believe that at least some of them were in fact small — possibly last year’s fawns. The eagle’s attack looked to be in deadly earnest. That coupled with the fact that she has been on her own for more than a year leads me to suspect that she might have succeeded with this quarry before.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Eagle Cam bald eagles interacted with this golden eagle that day and others. Not with a whole lot of warmth, I expect.”

Thanks to Greg for this great recap of some of the exciting eagle action we get at Blackwater NWR.

We have a new set of eaglet videos that I’ll post later this week. Thanks again to everyone for sending in their photos for the Eagle Cam Gallery.

Until next time,
Lisa – webmaster
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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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I wanted to start out this web log post with a small correction. In our last update, we mentioned that our white pelicans had been seen at Blackwater Refuge during the Eagle Festival, and we thought that was the first spotting of the birds this winter. We have since been informed that as far back as January 27, a pelican was seen, so they’ve been around a bit longer.

As a treat, we have a video on YouTube of our pelican gang at the Refuge. In this clip, which was taken recently, you see our pelican group along with some tundra swans and Canada geese that were all hanging out together in the marsh. We expect the swans to be heading north any day now.

Eaglet Update

Our eaglets are now three weeks old, and they’re making remarkable progress each week. We can see the first traces of pin feathers on their bodies (we’ll talk more about pin feathers in the next post), and we’ve also seen a couple shots (like the one on the right) where the eaglets seem to be trying to pull off food for themselves.

In this post, we have several videos that offer further insights into our eaglets’ rapidly maturing personalities, so we hope you enjoy them. But before I get to them, I wanted to offer two quick Eagle Cam mentions. First, for those of you watching the Carolina Raptor Center Eagle Cam, be aware that they’re saying Noah will be moved to a hacking tower on March 27. He has captive parents, but Noah will be a wild eagle, so they need to move him to a place where he can properly fledge.

And second, we want to offer a big congratulations to our good friends at the NCTC Eagle Cam in West Virginia. No Eagle Cam had a worse time with the snow than their cam, and out of four eggs, only one has hatched — but that was still a surprise. We hear that the great folks at the NCTC Eagle Cam blog have named the sole eaglet Palmer, after Deb Palmer, who was a wonderful person and big supporter of both the NCTC cam and our Blackwater cams, and even helped with reestablishing the osprey population in her home state of South Dakota. Deb unexpectedly passed away at the end of last year, so the NCTC fans wanted the eaglet named after her.

Videos

And now on to our videos. Please note that the videos below 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 first video, which is from March 11, we see the mother eagle indicating that she wants to feed the chicks, so the father gets off the youngsters. Next we see the younger eaglet take an unexpected peck at the older bird, and considering that the younger chick is smaller, this is a bold move that naturally produces a strong reaction from our older chick.

Cam watchers have asked me about sibling rivalry, considering how much food is in the nest this year. We do see some pecking, because it’s in the nature of raptor chicks to peck, but the rivalry has been much less this year. Often the older chick will get fed first, but before long, the younger bird steps up and gets fed right beside its sibling — like a little chorus line — where in years past, the older bird was fed until it was almost full, then the younger bird was fed.

In our second clip, which is from March 14, we see an example of a very democratic feeding session. The younger bird is facing the parent in the beginning of the session, so it gets fed first. Then the older bird joins in, and even though the younger bird acts a bit submissive, both birds continue to feed together.

Something else to notice in this clip is how at one point the mother twists her neck to pull off a piece of fish. Tearing off fish pieces — especially from a newly caught meal — can be hard work, which is why the parent does the ripping at this stage of the eaglets’ development. Eventually the eaglets will have strong enough necks and beaks to do the ripping themselves.

In our third clip, which is the first from March 19, we see a good example of the chicks trying to cool off. Last week we had some mild temperatures and bright sunshine, and since the eaglets are sporting their heavier down, they got a bit hot. To cool themselves off, they spread out their legs, pant, and try to find any shade they can. Sometimes the shade they seek out is created by the parent’s body, as we see in this clip.

And in our final clip, which is the second from March 19, we see the mother eagle arrive with some fresh grass in her talons. She promptly puts the grass on the eaglets, covering our younger bird. We then see our older bird backing up to the edge of the nest to slice, and then the mother settles over the chicks for a nap. These days, however, the eaglets are just too big to fully cover.

We hope you enjoyed the latest installment of our video clips. In our next web log post we’ll discuss the development of our eaglets’ feathers and what they’ll look like when they turn into impressive immature eagles.

Also, we’re making plans to start our Eaglet-Naming Contest in about two weeks, so start thinking up your names. Normally we prefer gender-neutral names (since we don’t know the gender of our eaglets yet), but we’ll take all kinds of submissions.

To give you some guidance, last year our chicks were named Chesapeake and Choptank because Blackwater Refuge is near the Choptank River and the Chesapeake Bay. Other name combinations have been Intrepid and Destiny (2008), Justice and Majesty (2007), Waiwash and Nause (a local Indian tribe near the Refuge, 2006), and Athos, Porthos, and Aramis (The Three Musketeers, 2005).

Until next time,

Lisa – webmaster
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We wanted to give an update on our fast-growing eaglets. Our two chicks are now almost three weeks old, and you can see their second coat of down — the darker, woolier coat — is visible on their bodies.

Their heads are the last place where they’ll lose their first white, fuzzy coat of down, so if you look closely, you can see the eaglets are getting a little white cap where the old down still shows — eventually this will be replaced with the darker down, and then feathers.

Speaking of feathers, today we saw a photo that seemed to show tiny pin feathers on the tail of our older bird. At least that’s what it looked like.

We’re also beginning to more easily see the eaglets’ big yellow feet. The youngsters’ feet and beaks will grow to adult size first, so you’ll notice the chicks looking a little funny with their big awkward feet sticking out in front of them.

Eagle Photos

We also have some interesting photos to share regarding other eagles. As many of you know, the Norfolk Eagle Cam now has three chicks. These parents are normally very good providers, so the birds should do well. Here’s a cute photo of one of them being fed.

Also, here’s a funny photo from the Carolina Raptor Center Eagle Cam, showing the mother doing some rearranging of the furniture — she’s going to poke an eye out if she’s not careful.

And finally, here’s a blog from one of our cam watchers who has put together some very nice slideshows of our Blackwater eaglets — with the photos displayed at an extra-large size.

Much thanks to all those who sent these in.

News from Blackwater NWR

Despite the rain, our Eagle Festival was a success this past Saturday, and we thank all those who braved the elements to come out and see the wildlife and the Refuge.

Tom Lorsung — who was one of the exhibiting photographers — sent me a photo of our white pelicans, which he took while at the Festival. According to our ranger, this past week was the first time that the pelicans have been seen all winter.

White pelicans aren’t normally seen this far north on the East Coast, but they’ve discovered the Refuge and they keep coming back year after year — often bringing friends with them. We’re happy they think the Refuge is a nice place to be, even though we’re always a little surprised to see them this far out of their range.

We’ll post an update to our Eagle Cam Gallery later this week; thanks to all those who have been sending in photos of our adorable chicks. They won’t be this cute for much longer.

Until next time,

Lisa – webmaster
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eagles, eagle cam, wildlife refuge, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland

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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Contact

Tags:
eagle, wildlife refuge, eaglets, eagle video, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland