Tues. morning nest watching

[Trisha]

When I arrived at 9am both young were standing on the nest. It was reported that an adult had brought in a small unidentified food item at 8am. It was still, hot and no adults around. When the breeze picked up it became fun time in the nest. Lots of "flying" back and forth by mainly the larger chick, but both taking turns with the activity. The larger chick is definitely beginning to "branch" as it perched about a foot above the nest on the large branch supporting the nest that comes out toward the road. From here it would "fly" to the other large nest support branch the comes out towards the west on the nest's right side. It would only very briefly set down on this west branch and then fly right back to the nest.

They took turns watching each other do their wing exercising. I think they have learned that if they both flap and jump at the same time there are scary results. They both stayed up on the nest with periods of
standing, (the larger always on its new found perch slightly above the rim) and both spent time moving in side to side and circular paths over the nest.

At about 10:30 an adult brought in a white bird and left the nest right away and went down to preen in the dead stand of trees. The larger chick grabbed the prey first and the smaller sat on the right and watched. When the smaller chick would try to get some fresh food its dominant sibling would open and close its beak as it faced its sibling....obviously saying "buzz off." We noticed the smaller chick begin to edge closer after about 5-10 minutes of watching and it grabbed the carcass. The older chick didn't object at first and the smaller one was tugging and actually lifting the carcass up above the nest where we could clearly see it as it ate. At one point the larger sibling moved back in and grabbed the carcass and a tug of war ensued. It would have made for a great picture with a long lens. They both just kind of let the few skeletal remains drop eventually and went back to their lookout positions.

I stayed until noon with the same pattern of standing and periods of exercising by the young. No adults were visible in any of their favorite spots. Al, Carolyn and I were happy to see a beautiful cardinal perch
on the power line right in front of us. If I knew how...I would post the fuzzy image. My computer skill set is right on par with my camera!

[NewMexiKen]

Thanks for such a wonderful report, Trisha!

Ken Schneider
Miramar, Florida & North Aurora, Illinois

Web site: http://www.rosyfinch.com
Eagle Nest: http://www.rosyfinch.com/BaldEagleNest.html
Blog: http://blog.rosyfinch.com
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/rosyfinch 

"Openness to the natural world and our response to it lie at the core of what we do and why we do it." (Fr. Tom Pincelli)



Trisha (via Nabble) - No Reply wrote:

> When I arrived at 9am both young were standing on the nest. It was
> reported that an adult had brought in a small unidentified food item
> at 8am. It was still, hot and no adults around. When the breeze picked
> up it became fun time in the nest. Lots of "flying" back and forth by
> mainly the larger chick, but both taking turns with the activity. The
> larger chick is definitely beginning to "branch" as it perched about a
> foot above the nest on the large branch supporting the nest that comes
> out toward the road. From here it would "fly" to the other large nest
> support branch the comes out towards the west on the nest's right
> side. It would only very briefly set down on this west branch and then
> fly right back to the nest.
>
> They took turns watching each other do their wing exercising. I think
> they have learned that if they both flap and jump at the same time
> there are scary results. They both stayed up on the nest with periods of
> standing, (the larger always on its new found perch slightly above the
> rim) and both spent time moving in side to side and circular paths
> over the nest.
>
> At about 10:30 an adult brought in a white bird and left the nest
> right away and went down to preen in the dead stand of trees. The
> larger chick grabbed the prey first and the smaller sat on the right
> and watched. When the smaller chick would try to get some fresh food
> its dominant sibling would open and close its beak as it faced its
> sibling....obviously saying "buzz off." We noticed the smaller chick
> begin to edge closer after about 5-10 minutes of watching and it
> grabbed the carcass. The older chick didn't object at first and the
> smaller one was tugging and actually lifting the carcass up above the
> nest where we could clearly see it as it ate. At one point the larger
> sibling moved back in and grabbed the carcass and a tug of war ensued.
> It would have made for a great picture with a long lens. They both
> just kind of let the few skeletal remains drop eventually and went
> back to their lookout positions.
>
> I stayed until noon with the same pattern of standing and periods of
> exercising by the young. No adults were visible in any of their
> favorite spots. Al, Carolyn and I were happy to see a beautiful
> cardinal perch
> on the power line right in front of us. If I knew how...I would post
> the fuzzy image. My computer skill set is right on par with my camera!
>
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