Feb. 4 Morning - 2 eaglets feeding

[Mike Fossler]

I watched from 8:00am to 9:45am. The eaglets stayed alone in the nest until around 8:40 when one of the parents flew in with a small bird and began to feed it to the chicks. The parent spent about 5 or 10 mins in the nest then flew over to a power pole (something I've never seen them do.) It appears to have some brown spots at the tip of its tail thus perhaps it's the male. The chicks ate a little more on their own then settled into the nest.

Below are photos of the two being fed, the parent on the power pole and a nice close-up of one of the chicks. MF

[Trisha]

Nice shots, Mike....thanks so much for taking/posting so we all can keep up with the nest!  I remember last year reports of them landing on the power poles.  They have things that stick up and keep them from landing there....but maybe it keeps them off the wires?  I wish we could find an expert on the subject to comment!

[Mike Fossler]

Not usually something to worry about - touching a single wire and nothing else is safe but touching two wires or one wire and the ground or a grounded/conductive item is deadly.MF

[NewMexiKen]

FPL did install insulating sleeves that cover all three of the lines for about 2-3 feet out from the poles. This will minimize the risk when eagles roost on the poles. However. their 5-6 foot wing spans are long enough to easily cause contact between two wires if they fly between the uninsulated wires. The yellow curly-cues are meant to discourage this.

A couple of seasons back, I saw one juvenile alight briefly on the top wire. It never lowered its wings, but if it were to extend one wing down, it might be long enough to cause a high-voltage arc to jump even if it does not quite touch the next wire.