Re: March 23, 2013 - Early Afternoon

Posted by NewMexiKen on
URL: http://bald-eagles-of-broward-county-florida.17.s1.nabble.com/March-23-2013-Early-Afternoon-tp7572981p7572987.html

Steffi, that is an interesting question, whether a single eaglet may fledge later than those with siblings.

Intuitively, I assumed that having others competing for space just to flap their wings might cause those with siblings to branch earlier, and thus depart at a younger age. Our limited experience (as shown on our summary of observations at this link) supports this supposition but is not conclusive. The earlier multiple broods flew sooner but the 2010 nest with three eaglets took the longest to both branch and take their first flights. I wonder whether any scientific study has been done to test this hypothesis.

Maybe the "little" eaglet (now bigger than her parents) just enjoys all the special attention and has less incentive to leave the nest. Some experts have alleged (but we have not witnessed) that the parents starve the eaglet in the days before fledging in order to reduce its body weight and make the first flight easier. As David's photos show, this one is still being fed small portions as if it were a a baby. In the past we have seen the eaglets "attack" the parent at food drops and compete with nest-mates for the prey.

Certainly the parents do drop food on the nest to attract the eaglet back after it fledges.