Monday, April 27, 2015

Berry College Eagles Day 73&75, Harrison Bay Eagles Day 29&31, White Rock Eagles Day 7&8, Dyfi Osprey, Loch of the Lowes Osprey, White-bellied Sea Eagle


I didn't get a chance to watch the Berry College nest today to see if they are starting to look interested in taking the leap. Technically, they are old enough to fledge now. But I don't want to call fledge watch without seeing the behaviors that indicate they are ready to go. When I brought up the nest tonight, I found them snuggled together:

I looked back over the day. They were both foraging for nestovers:

Look at this face! Looks like an eaglet that is all done growing!

It's funny how they both prefer the same perch when they are branching.

So I went back to see how they went about getting up there. One stepped up.

The other one hopped up and stuck the landing. It's important for them to practice landing on branches. The learning curve for landing is really steep after they take that first leap! This hop was impressive, it started from way back!

They are still stepping down, instead of hopping down.

The other one came down the branch, stepped down, and without moving very far joined its sibling for a nap.

Look at the huge crops on the Harrison Bay chicks! Notice that they are eating another turtle.

This s'cap shows how much the feathers are coming in along the wing edges. The chick closest to the parent looks like it's got a fringe all along the edge of its wing. And look at the wing tips!

I caught some golden light tonight at the White Rock nest, and there's a little escapee! So cute!

I was wondering if it's still just 2 eggs at the Dyfi nest. Yup, 2. And they look huge and white under the infrared light.

Here's the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes nest tonight. This Osprey Mom looks to have a softer face than the Dyfi Osprey Mom above. The Dyfi Mom has a more slicked back head. I picked a similar pose for comparison purposes.
 
Here's a current s'cap of one of the White-bellied Sea Eagles:
 

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