Friday, July 10, 2015

Africam Black Eagle Day 43, Dyfi Osprey 39,41&42, Harrison Bay Eagles Day 103&105 Grand Entrances, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Day 47,49&50 Fledge Watch Continues, White-bellied Sea Eagle

I caught a feeding this morning at the Africam Black Eagle nest.

The prey item is a Guineafowl, judging by the feathers.

Look at that fat crop! This is a well-fed baby.

These babies look like they are posing for the camera.

The is a family shot, with Mom arriving with more nesting material and Dad on the back perch.

This baby has got its eyelid covering the bottom half of its eye and the nictitating membrane is covering the top part of its eyelid. Bald Eagle eyelids come from the bottom up. And the nictitating membrane sweeps from the front to the back. Check out the eyelid series on one of my previous posts and the picture of the nictitating membrane on another of my previous posts.

They have settled in for the night in the nest tree again.

Here's a video from earlier in the day. When a parent brings food to the nest, the Fledglings get there as fast as they can, screaming the entire way. They make a Grand Entrance! (3:00)

The Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey are ready to fledge. They are wingercizing in earnest now. Look at that wing span!

These two were flapping so hard!

Here's a family shot while Dad was briefly at the nest delivering a fish. He's a good provider!

The chicks all politely gathered for bites of food. Mom is on the left. It looks like the two chicks on the right are larger and the one next to Mom is smaller. I'm guessing two females and one male.

Here's another look at their sizes. The one at the back of the nest looks huge. Definitely a female. The one on the left looks so tiny compared to Mom, who is at the front of the nest. Definitely a male. I think the one on the right looks about the same size as Mom, so I think that one is a female too.

Something got the parent up off of the eggs. After moving out of the nest bowl, the parent tip-toed over the eggs. They scare me when they do this... There was a Bald Eagle nest where the parent dragged a rabbit from one side of the nest to the other, right across the middle. It hit the eggs and broke one. I always think, "Take your time. Go around!"

The parent then took flight to the right.

After several tense minutes of the eggs being unattended, a parent arrived from the left. I didn't see any reason for the parent to take off in a hurry like that, but I was glad when a parent returned...

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