Jan 19 Afternoon

[hall48]

I visited the nest site yesterday (19th of Jan) and was there from shortly afrter 3:00 PM until 5:00 PM.
A single parent was on the nest the entire time I was there and the second parent flew in and stayed only a minute or two before flying out. I observed a parent feeding a single chick a number of times, and took numerous photos.
It may just be my imagination, I hope so, but I couldn't help but think that what I was seeing on the left (East) side of the nest looked a lot like a single leg of a bird (I hope not an eaglet) infront of a mass of grey which could be a young bird body.
It did not change position over the 2 hours that I took pictures.

[NewMexiKen]

Beautiful series of photos! You may have seen the feet of a prey bird. They often catch white long-legged wading birds such as White Ibis and Cattle Egrets. I think we can conclude that there is only one eaglet, the same as last year. We can call him/her "P.Piney 10" as it is the tenth eaglet that has hatched since we started observing the nest.

[hall48]

The more I thought about it, after posting, the more I thought the same thing Ken. The leg just seemed a bit thick, though it does seem longer than what I would expect for an eaglet.

I am including an image with the leg in it so you can see what I was talking about.



Dave Hall

[Rosyfinch]

Dave, is that possibly a second eaglet just to the left of the foot? I think I can make out a beak and eyes! However, since it did not move this is unlikely unless, as you pointed out, it is lifeless.

[hall48]

I had the same thought most of the time I was taking pictures. I just couldn't tell, still can't. The adult did, on several occasions, hang a piece of fish down past where the gray mass (body?) is and his beak would go down but it always came up with the food still in it. Each time I saw the adult do that the other chick was visible to me so I know it was not attempting to feed the one I could see. I couldn't help but wonder it maybe it was trying to feed a chick that had passed away. Probably just my imagination, but, like you, that gray mass sure looked like another chick to me. I couln't quite figure out how, if I was seeing the chicks face that I was also seeing the leg, in the position it was in. It didn't seem anatomically possible.
David

[Trisha]

I was by at 11:30 and only saw one eaglet being fed, BUT the adult kept peering down into the nest when the confirmed eaglet was clearly sitting up on another part of the nest. A watcher emailed me later that he had seen 2 eaglets!  Time will tell....and our observations if another eaglet starts to feed!

BTW....gorgeous pictures, David...so sharp of our new eaglet with the parent!  Thanks for posting them!