Newspaper article with video narrative by Robert Flintroy

[NewMexiKen]

Link to Full story with excellent video narrative by eagle watcher Robert "Blackadile Dundee" Flintroy, as well as a slideshow. Anyone who hears Robert's enthusiasm will not help but be enthralled by these eagles!

sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-pines-bald-eaglets-20140415,0,3226263.story

Sun Sentinel

Pines eaglets take to the air

Pair hatched in January make first flights

By David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel

11:55 AM EDT, April 15, 2014


A pair of successful student pilots sat in a massive nest in a tall tree near Pines Boulevard, one of them tearing at some food with its beak.

The eaglets, which hatched in January in western Pembroke Pines, have begun to fly.

In the past two weeks, the offspring of the only known nesting pair of bald eagles in Broward County have hopped from branch to branch, hovered while beating their wings, and begun making short flights to other trees.

"It's like watching a toddler learning to walk," said Michelle van Deventer, bald eagle plan coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The two eaglets, named Honor and Glory by a local eagle protection group, are both thought to be female, said Ken Schneider, a birder who has served on a city board dedicated to protecting them. One of them is distinctly dominant, and on a Monday afternoon, with the adults absent, it could be seen raising its wings to block the other from the food it was eating.

But the adults have made sure both get enough food, elbowing the dominant one out of the way to make sure the other could eat. The food is a mix of prey brought back to the nest – fish, birds made up primarily of cattle egrets and white ibises, although once they brought home a tricolored heron.

The eaglets learned to fly in careful steps.

"Flight skills need to be developed, especially landing. Taking off is more about courage, landing is the skill," van Deventer said.

The week or two of flight are the period of maximum danger, with each step putting the eagles in danger of ending up on the ground with a broken wing.

"If they're grounded, they're easy prey for a bobcat or coyote," Schneider said.

Given the dangers of the first days of flight, members of a group of volunteers who watch the nest were pretty nervous. When one eaglet disappeared for a few days, one of them called the police. A search found the eaglet perched in a nearby melaleuca tree.

"No one has reported a long free flight," Schneider said. "We've seen them fly from branch to branch, and so they're flight capable, and pretty soon they're going to start soaring."

The dangers are not over, of course. Although bald eagles in the wild typically live 15 to 20 years, only about half of eaglets will make it to adulthood. Hazards include road kills, electrical wires and disease.

Once they have completed their flight training, the eaglets will embark on their first migration north, a trip that could take them up to Chesapeake Bay. The eaglets are likely to leave by June, van Deventer said. After that, they will strike out on their own and live as aerial nomads for the next few years, until they reach sexual maturity and build nests of their own.

Eagles do try to return to their nests, begging their parents for food and occasionally getting it. More often, their parents regard them with the cold eyes with which human parents would regard a grown son or daughter moving back home after college.

We had two of the young of previous seasons come back," Schneider said. "One about four years old, with a two year old, and the two parents chased them away."

The Pembroke Pines eagles, whose nest was discovered seven years ago, are an indication of the recovery of a species that had been down to just 80 nesting pairs statewide 40 years ago. Following the banning of the pesticide DDT in 1972, there are more than 1,500 nesting pairs in Florida, home to the third-largest population in the United States, after Alaska and Minnesota,.

[e-mail], 954-356-4535

Copyright © 2014, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[KellyHeffernan Proj Perch]

What a great, accurate article and the video is very well done.  Nice job
to all involved!

Regards - Kelly

Kelly Heffernan
SFAS's Project Perch
[phone]

>
>
> Link to Full story with excellent video narrative by eagle watcher Robert
> "Blackadile Dundee" Flintroy, as well as a slideshow. Anyone who hears
> Robert's enthusiasm this will not help but be enthralled by these eagles!
> <http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-pines-bald-eaglets-20140415,0,3226263.story>
>
> sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-pines-bald-eaglets-20140415,0,3226263.story
>
> Sun Sentinel
>
> Pines eaglets take to the air
>
> Pair hatched in January make first flights
>
> By David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel
>
> 11:55 AM EDT, April 15, 2014
>
>
> A pair of successful student pilots sat in a massive nest in a tall tree
> near Pines Boulevard, one of them tearing at some food with its beak.
>
> The eaglets, which hatched in January in western Pembroke Pines, have
> begun
> to fly.
>
> In the past two weeks, the offspring of the only known nesting pair of
> bald
> eagles in Broward County have hopped from branch to branch, hovered while
> beating their wings, and begun making short flights to other trees.
>
> "It's like watching a toddler learning to walk," said Michelle van
> Deventer,
> bald eagle plan coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
> Commission.
>
> The two eaglets, named Honor and Glory by a local eagle protection group,
> are both thought to be female, said Ken Schneider, a birder who has served
> on a city board dedicated to protecting them. One of them is distinctly
> dominant, and on a Monday afternoon, with the adults absent, it could be
> seen raising its wings to block the other from the food it was eating.
>
> But the adults have made sure both get enough food, elbowing the dominant
> one out of the way to make sure the other could eat. The food is a mix of
> prey brought back to the nest – fish, birds made up primarily of cattle
> egrets and white ibises, although once they brought home a tricolored
> heron.
>
> The eaglets learned to fly in careful steps.
>
> "Flight skills need to be developed, especially landing. Taking off is
> more
> about courage, landing is the skill," van Deventer said.
>
> The week or two of flight are the period of maximum danger, with each step
> putting the eagles in danger of ending up on the ground with a broken
> wing.
>
> "If they're grounded, they're easy prey for a bobcat or coyote," Schneider
> said.
>
> Given the dangers of the first days of flight, members of a group of
> volunteers who watch the nest were pretty nervous. When one eaglet
> disappeared for a few days, one of them called the police. A search found
> the eaglet perched in a nearby melaleuca tree.
>
> "No one has reported a long free flight," Schneider said. "We've seen them
> fly from branch to branch, and so they're flight capable, and pretty soon
> they're going to start soaring."
>
> The dangers are not over, of course. Although bald eagles in the wild
> typically live 15 to 20 years, only about half of eaglets will make it to
> adulthood. Hazards include road kills, electrical wires and disease.
>
> Once they have completed their flight training, the eaglets will embark on
> their first migration north, a trip that could take them up to Chesapeake
> Bay. The eaglets are likely to leave by June, van Deventer said. After
> that,
> they will strike out on their own and live as aerial nomads for the next
> few
> years, until they reach sexual maturity and build nests of their own.
>
> Eagles do try to return to their nests, begging their parents for food and
> occasionally getting it. More often, their parents regard them with the
> cold
> eyes with which human parents would regard a grown son or daughter moving
> back home after college.
>
> We had two of the young of previous seasons come back," Schneider said.
> "One
> about four years old, with a two year old, and the two parents chased them
> away."
>
> The Pembroke Pines eagles, whose nest was discovered seven years ago, are
> an
> indication of the recovery of a species that had been down to just 80
> nesting pairs statewide 40 years ago. Following the banning of the
> pesticide
> DDT in 1972, there are more than 1,500 nesting pairs in Florida, home to
> the
> third-largest population in the United States, after Alaska and
> Minnesota,.
>
> [hidden email], 954-356-4535
>
> Copyright © 2014, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
>
>
>
> -----
> Ken Schneider
> Web site: http://rosyfinch.com
> Blog: http://rosy-finch.blogspot.com
>
>
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