Friday JAN 31 9-11:30 AM no adults at nest

[NewMexiKen]

I watched the nest from 9:00 until 11:30 AM this morning. Phil and Mary joined me a little after I arrived. It had rained most of the past two days into this morning. The female was drying her wings on a snag west of the nest. The male was never evident during the whole time, and no adult visited the nest.





The two eaglets were active in the nest, sometimes appearing to compete with each other-- mostly jostling with no signs of lethal intent

This is P Piney 12 (unless someone wants to give her a less prosaic name), the 12th known eaglet produced by this pair since we have been watching the nest, first hatched and presumed to be a female (there is a 2 out of 3 chance that the first hatched is female). She will be three weeks old tomorrow, FEB 1st.



This is P Piney 13, who has a 2 out of three chance to be a male (FM, FF, and MM are respectively the most common gender sequences in successful Bald Eagle nests-- note that these combinations result in equal numbers of female and male progeny). He is probably 2-3 days younger than his big sister. Note that he has a greater amount of white natal down on his head and neck. A week from now both eaglets will probably show only a white tuft on top of their heads.



The younger eaglet is on the left in this image. They interacted and appeared to be a bit competitive, with the older nestling asserting dominance.





From the ground, Phil and I thought for a moment we might be seeing a third eaglet. This appears to be the wing of P Piney 13, as it still has quite a bit of down. However, we shoould keep a watch out as if there is a third eaglet it could be as much as a week younger than the first hatchling.

[Mike Fossler]

Great pix of the youngsters, Ken!

Hope to get out there tomorrow . . .