Mary Lou and I joined Lou and Ed at the nest at about 8:10 AM. The two adults were standing guard in the two Australian Pines just to the west of the nest, nearest the road. The adults called to each other several times, but we could not hear the chick. I could not reach Brian Mealey, so I called FWC to ask that an agent come by to see if the chick appeared uninjured.
The adult birds flew away, one at a time, after 15 to 20 minutes. At about 9:25 AM, a fully black immature eagle flew in northbound from the northwest corner of the Eagle Forest, veered to the west over the eastbound lane of Pines Boulevard, to around 209th Avenue, and turned to the left (south), right toward the power lines. She stalled and attempted to land on the top wire, but in less than a second flew off toward the dead Melaleucas. We found her sitting on one about 200 feet south of the fence line. An adult was roosting further back, to her southwest.
Agent Brock (who lives nearby and has observed the nest in his free time) responded at 9:45 and observed Hope. We briefed him, telling him that it appeared that Justice fell towards a point about 10 feet west of the nest tree. He went in and spent an hour searching the general area of the nest, but did not find the eaglet. His arms were pretty well scratched up from the sawgrass. He said that the area to the west of the nest is relatively clear, and it is possible that Justice was able to fly out rather freely. The good news is that if Justice had been injured, he almost certainly would have been found by Agent Brock in the search area.
At 9:55, while Brock was searching the nest site, Hope again appeared from the west, and this time landed at the very top of the Australian Pine to the east of the nest tree, the one commonly used as a roost tree by the adults. She perched on the very small limbs, balancing quite a bit at first, but finally settled down for almost a half hour. We felt sure this bird was Hope.
Hope then flew off to the west at 10:12, at first heading towards the Melaleucas, but curved back around toward us, gaining altitude. She flew in a spiral right overhead until she was very high. Above her, appearing almost as a speck was an adult Bald Eagle. We finally lost sight of both, off to the southwest.
Brian Mealey returned my calls and said that, as with Hope, we should expect Justice to attempt to get back into the nest during the next 48 hours. He asked us to call him if the second eaglet does not appear by then.
Although it is difficult to expect eagle watchers to sit and look at an empty nest, we should continue covering the nest until Justice returns, or it becomes necessary to conduct another search. It will also be interesting to document the habits of the youngsters-- will they return to the nest for feedings? How long will they keep coming back to the nest or the immediate area befor wandering off? Brian said they could linger there for over a month, even after becoming quite independent of their parents.
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