May 15, 2007
Eaglet Games
Our eaglets, Justice and Majesty, are now 11 weeks old, so they are at the age when fledging is possible. On Monday, one of the eaglets was gone from the nest for over an hour. The remaining eaglet spent some time looking over the nest edge, so we wondered if one of the eaglets had taken flight. But on Tuesday both eaglets seemed to spend a good amount of time in the nest, so it's possible our missing eaglet was only branching on Monday. Just to be sure, we have asked the staff at the Visitor Center (where the live monitor is located) to keep an eye out for us to see if they can tell when an eaglet has officially fledged.
To give you an idea as to what branching looks like, we have an animated GIF (975KB) that our photographer friend Woody Dawson put together showing an eaglet stepping out onto a branch. In the short clip, you can see how the eaglet uses its wings to maneuver its talons along the branch. Branching helps eaglets increase their perching skills and also helps them learn how to use the branches for a launching -- and landing -- location.
Last year at the end of the 2006 Eagle Cam season, our camera got pushed out of position by one of the eagles. The mishap gave us a wider look at the tree where the eagles are nesting and also gave us a good look at the tree's branches (note that this is the same nest as this year). In this photo from the 2006 season, you can see some of the branches that are available to our eaglets if they want to branch. We have noticed that often the eaglets seem to be "hiding" at the top of the cam image, as we sometimes catch glimpses of their tail feathers in that area, so it's possible they are doing some perching on that large branch on the right side of the 2006 image.
As an added bonus, I also want to offer a video provided by one of our cam watchers showing a flapping eaglet from the Norfolk Botanical Gardens' Eagle Cam. In the clip, the eaglet is flapping and hopping in the nest and these exercises allow the eaglet to get stronger in preparation for its first flight. This is often what our eaglets are doing when you see them with their wings spread out on the cam image.
Eaglet Games:
To top off the multimedia offerings in this web log entry, I also have four new videos of Justice and Majesty, which I took on Sunday while at the Refuge. Left-click on the links below to play the Windows Media Video files or right-click and choose "Save Target As" to download to your computer.
In the first video clip we seem an example of something I mentioned in the last web log entry. I had said that sometimes the father eagle can have a hard time interacting with the big youngsters since they can be aggressive at meal time and since a female eaglet would be bigger than her father, and Justice decided to provide an example of just such an event. In this clip, it appears that the father eagle is the parent that has just arrived with a fish. Justice promptly lunges at the fish in such an aggressive manner that she grabs the adult's foot instead of the fish, and the parent is lucky to get its talon free. Justice then mantles over the food (hides it with spread wings) to indicate it is most definitely her meal, leaving Majesty to sit there and watch. The powerless parent flies off and Majesty eventually manages to steal a few bites from under his sister's legs. It seems clear that Majesty does better at meal time if the mother eagle is there to make sure that the meal is distributed in a more democratic way. :-)
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In the second clip we see a nice sequence where Majesty uses his wings to skip along the nest edge, out toward the big branch, and then back again. It's clear from this clip that the eaglets are getting more comfortable with using their wings for mobility.
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In the third clip we see Majesty nipping at Justice's toes while she lies in the nest. Maybe Majesty found a few remaining pieces of fish on Justice's talon or he was just getting even for the earlier fish hoarding. :-)
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In the final clip we see the eaglets play a game of "toss the feather" as they lie in the nest and play with a feather that came off one of them. When you have a lot of hours to kill in the nest, even a feather can be loads of fun. :-)
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Miscellaneous News:
I wanted to offer some happy news about recent birds released by Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research. Tri-State is a local bird rescue outfit and they do a tremendous job in helping the local bird life. In the recent Tri-State Bird Rescue newsletter (PDF file) we learn that the 12 immature brown pelicans that were trapped here during the winter have now been released. The newsletter also talks about an eaglet from Blackwater Refuge that was in a nest that fell down during a recent storm, and the article, which includes a cute photo, says that the eaglet has now been re-nested. Thanks to Tri-State for all they do for our many local birds.
Bob Quinn Photos:
Local photographer Bob Quinn has just posted some new eagle photos from Blackwater Refuge. They include a funny couple of photos where an immature eagle was attracted to a "Happy Birthday" balloon that for some reason was flying over the Refuge. Bob says the eagle got bored with it after a while and left it alone, which is a good thing as popped balloons can be dangerous if an animal tries to eat them.
Also in this collection of shots, Bob has photos of an immature eagle soaring around the Refuge. This eagle is about the same age as our birds, so this gives you a good idea as to how our birds will look once they're out of the nest and exploring their Refuge home.
Technical Note:
I wanted to mention that we have noticed the thin lines that sometimes appear on the Eagle Cam image (and in these recent video clips). Our cam technician was aware of it right before he went on vacation, and he speculated that it could be a loose wire. He did not think it would be a major problem, so he'll fix it when he returns.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
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