June 23: Action at the nest

[NewMexiKen]

I met a visitor from Orlando at the nest at 7:00 this morning. I usually do not visit so early, but this was the best time window for her. My expectations were low that we would see any action during the 45 minutes we planned to watch. Was I ever wrong!

We found the female eaglet almost out of sight on the nest...



...and the male was roosting on an open branch in the nest tree at "11 o'clock high."



They called to each other at times, but suddenly the cries picked up. We did not realize it at the time, but Pride, the adult male, was carrying in in a prey item:









The food drop encounter lasted only a few seconds in a flurry of activity. Pride carried a large fish to the nest but the female eaglet seemed to attack him. He either dropped it or the eaglet took it from him as he retreated to a nest support branch.

You can see the head of the fish just to the left of the base of the branch in front of the nest, either as it is falling into the  nest or perhaps in the talons of the female eaglet. Pride is roosting immediately overhead of the frisky juvenile:



The female eaglet immediately outstretched her wings to cover the prey in a defensive manner:





The male eaglet flew towards the nest but turned around and continued flying out over us:





He flew so close overhead that I could not fit him into my viewfinder:



Then Pride flew up to the very top of a pine tree in front of the nest. A pair of Blue Jays harassed him and he finally flew off: