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

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
Support the Blackwater Cams
Contact Us

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

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
Support the Blackwater Cams
Contact Us

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