APR 1: Eaglets being fed

[NewMexiKen]

Arrived at nest at about 9:15 AM and watched for over 45 minutes. The male (Pride) was roosting high in the tree at Pines & 208th.







Pride flew off to the north at 9:30 AM.



The female (Jewel) was perched next to the nest, almost out of sight and no eaglets were visible at first.
She  scratched her head, revealing the very long hind toe and nail (hallux) which is characteristic of the female.



Jewel then  flew up to a slightly higher (but more visible) perch above the nest.  







Pride returned about 8 minutes later carrying some straw, but no prey item was visible.



He landed on the nest and both eaglets started calling as if  begging to be fed but they did not approach the adult. Pride seemed to ignore them and the eaglets kept to the opposite (right ) side of the nest. One eaglet is  barely visible through the leaves:



Jewel flew down next to the nest and then joined Pride, who then flew off at 9:40 AM.



Pride then flew up to the top of a nearby tree just to the west of the nest, where he remained until I departed.



Meanwhile, Jewel turned away and began feeding one of the eaglets with her back to the second one, which appeared to wait patiently.



Then at about 9:55, Jewel turned around and started feeding the second eaglet. The other eaglet moved around next to the other but did not beg.







The eaglet waited as the female tore at the prey item, but the eaglet seemed impatient and picked up a large part of the prey.





The eaglet struggled to swallow the big morsel







The eaglet shook and pumped its head up and down and when the adult tried to retrieve the food, the eaglet refused help and backed away, but worked to swallow the entire portion.



The food disappeared down the eaglet's gullet. Its neck (crop?) looked quite distended



Jewel went back to feeding the first eaglet behind the little glutton, which stopped begging. However, the second eaglet then picked up more food!



Once again, it seemed to have picked up something that was hard to swallow!