March 22, 2007
Eaglet Videos Pt. 2
Before we get to our new video clips, I wanted to quickly cover a few other topics.
First, I’ve been getting quite a few emails about the corn cobs in the eagle nest. There are cornfields near the nest site, and when the eagle parents bring cornstalk pieces to the nest (for nesting material) sometimes a corn cob comes along for the ride. Our ranger says he doesn’t believe the eagles are eating the corn, but they’re likely pecking at it. In the first two seasons we even saw what looked like the eaglets playing with the corn cobs, so the cobs are more of a curiosity than food.
Also, cam watchers have seen that as the chicks get better at protecting themselves from the elements, the parents are often disappearing from our view. This doesn’t mean the parents are gone. It’s highly likely one of them is sitting in the branches of the nest tree (and out of our view) while they’re looking over the chicks. Our adults seem like very capable parents, and they would likely know that leaving the chicks completely alone at this point would be dangerous since the chicks are still small enough to be vulnerable to predators (such as owls). Also, as the chicks get bigger, the parents will have a harder time fitting into the nest, so a more comfortable place for them will be on a nearby branch.
On a slightly different topic, the Eagle Cam at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens in Virginia now has three active eaglets. I think a couple cam watchers told me about this cam, and I forgot to mention it. I just checked the streaming video, and it looks good, so be sure to pay the cam a visit.
We also have some sad news to pass along from our friends at the NCTC Eagle Cam (National Conservation Training Center) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The poor eagle parents got caught in a big snowstorm last weekend, and after the snow cleared, they were missing one of their three eggs. The US Fish and Wildlife Service at the NCTC think one unlucky eaglet may have hatched around the time of the storm but then succumbed to the elements since the snow was just too heavy. Right now, the NCTC cam watchers are waiting for the other two eggs to hatch, but the eggs are late. We wish our friends there the best of luck and hope the eagle parents can salvage their nesting season.
Video Clips
In this web log entry, we have four new video clips to share with you; these were taken on the day of our Eagle Festival on March 10, so the eaglets look a little younger but the behaviors they’re exhibiting in the clips are still relevant today. Right-click on the video links below and choose "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" to download them to your computer. If you have broadband, you can left-click on the links to play the videos, as the files are relatively small.
In the first clip, we get to see one of the chicks slicing (as falconers call it). What’s interesting about this clip is that the chick has the instinct to go “outside the nest” in order to keep the nest tidy. This instinct is aided by the fact that eagles (and ospreys) have strong anal muscles, so the birds are able to clear the nest even when they are very young.
Also, in this clip it’s funny to watch how the eaglet has to basically stand on its head to get its little rear end high enough to slice clear of the nest. On the cam, you an also see that sometimes the eaglets hit the trunk of the tree, which has an increasing amount of whitewash on it.
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| 3.7 MB Clip |
In the second clip, we see a short sibling fight that is instigated by the youngest. I know our cam watchers have noticed that the second eaglet has been acting more passive as a consequence of the chick being second-in-line at the nest. Even though the youngest chick is smaller and occasionally bullied by the oldest, we can report that folks at the Refuge say the youngest eaglet is getting his share of the food and seems to be doing very well. It’s also important to note that the oldest chick does not appear to be interfering too much with the youngest at feeding time, so both chicks are well fed. This is especially true since the father eagle is still pitching in and helping to feed the chicks when he’s with them. We continue to be impressed with our father, especially since we did not see this behavior from the male in the last two seasons.
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| 4.6 MB Clip |
In the third clip we see a changeover where the mother eagle comes in to relieve the father. Although the father fed the chicks before this scene, the eaglets still look expectantly at the mother when she arrives with food, and it doesn’t take long for the mother to offer up a morsel of food to the always hungry eaglets. Also in this clip, you might be able to briefly see that the father appeared to have something on his beak. We’re not sure if he had a cut or it was some leftover food.
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| 6.7 MB Clip |
In the final clip, we see a longer feeding session with the chicks. What’s interesting about this clip is how the parent tries to hand off a piece of food that is just too large for the chick, so the chick drops it. The parent then picks it up and chomps it into smaller pieces, and then offers it again to the chicks.
It’s also interesting to note that even when a chick drops smaller pieces of food, it doesn’t seem to occur to the eaglet to reach down and pick up the meat – instead the chick waits for the parent to do it. Right now, the chicks seem to believe that food can only come from the parent’s beak, and so that is where they look.
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| 5.6 MB Clip |
Gallery Updates
I just wanted to thank all those who have been sending in photos from both our cams. We greatly appreciate our cam watchers taking the time to make our galleries such a wonderful record of our nesting seasons. We often use the past galleries to remind ourselves about what the families did and when, so they really are a useful resource to all those who follow the cams.
If you've never submitted photos and wonder how it's done, be sure to visit our Submit page for instructions.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)