Youngest Eaglet down below nest tree April 24, 2010

[Al]

When I arrived , one eaglet was in the nest, and much to my surprise, I could see down in the brush an eaglet trying to helicopter up and out of the brush!  I called Ken and FWC and was advised that it should take about 48 hours for the eaglet to make it's way up and out. As of this writing there are two confirmed eaglets flying.

[Trisha]

Al called around 9:15 as I was returning from the airport to tell me about the eaglet about 15 ft off the ground, flapping its wings but seemingly unable to helicopter upwards or move out of the dense area where he spotted it.

When I arrived around 10am there were no eagles anywhere around the nest and none could be heard. Several times we felt we may have heard one south of the nest but could not confirm it. We watched for about 2 hrs with no action and finally 1 eaglet flew in to the nest very smoothly, ate leftovers and smoothly took off, flying over the road and then headed north.

A short time later another eaglet arrived....we think a younger one as it struggled to land in the nest, finally landing in a tall pine to the east. After teetering back and forth for a while it headed straight to the nest on a long glide and made it safely. It didn't seem to eat, but went down in the nest to rest. A short time later the first eaglet (we think) flew back and landed on a branch above the nest. An adult soon brought food and the eaglet in the nest ate but the one on the branch stayed there. The adult flew off behind the nest.

About 30 minutes later the female adult brought another meal and this time by jumping and branching down, the eaglet on the branch made it into the nest and both eaglets ate. Right behind the female adult, the male followed and didn't go to the nest, but circled in front of the nest and then headed north. The female flew to the pine just east of the nest to perch. She stayed about 15 min. and then took off to the east. The 2 eaglets remained in the nest, sometimes resting and occasionally standing. Still no sign of the 3rd eaglet that Al feels is the youngest one that he saw this morning down low in the nest woods.

Several groups of visitors came by, some returning and others their first time. Carolyn came for a couple hours and helped watch and at one time she saw a juvenile flying out beyond the maleleucas, but since we didn't have the other 2 in site....we couldn't confirm if it was the third. Really......keeping track of 3 is definitely challenging, as they come and go at different times. When I upload photos hopefully we can see some differences in the color patterns so we can try to tell 1 from the other! Any photos we post will be a great aid in figuring out if 1 is missing, short of seeing all 3 together!

[Carolyn J]

Thanks for the post, Trisha!