End Of Another Season
This report is a few weeks late but with moving to Wisconsin, I have been very busy! We finished up the season in the Capital Region of NY with all eaglets fledgling in late June or early July. The above two were very busy taking care of three eaglets. Three eaglets is pretty rare and the food supply needs to be good enough to support their ever-growing appetites.
Here are the three taking in late May. One of three had a very eventful fledge...
I went out to the nest in late June to check on the three eaglets. They were extremely active. The three were flapping, jumping and taking mini-fights above the nest. The smallest of the group(probably a male) went out on a small branch and started flapping hard. He flapped so hard, he fell off the branch and luckily, a lower pine branch broke his fall. Here is a poor shot of right before he fell. He tried to hop up to the nest but there wasn't enough room to get through the branches. Soon after that one of the adults returned to the nest with a fish. The newly fledged eaglet missed a feeding but it appeared he was unharmed by his fall. My guess is the other two probably fledged later in the day. The next visit there was no eagle activity around the nest. They had probably moved up or down river from the nest.
The adults continue to feed the fledglings for at least a few weeks until the eaglets venture out on their own. They must learn how to scavenge, hunt for themselves and master the art of flying.
The first year for a eagle is very hard with only about 50% surviving to see their 2nd birthday. Best of luck to all the fledglings!
The end of season is always a little sad and exciting. This year is even more bittersweet as I move to a new area of the country and say goodbye to the amazing Bald Eagles of the Capital Region. The eagles of Dane County Wisconsin will have a tough act to follow but it will interesting to compare them with the eagles of Colorado and New York that I have observed previously.
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