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02/21/10
Three eaglets in local nest
Filed under: General, Birding & Outdoors, Florida & SE US, Bald Eagle Nest
Posted by: Ken @ 8:00 pm

     Bald Eagles usually lay two eggs, but three is not all that unusual. Of 186 Central Florida rural and urban nests studied by Brian Millsap between 1997 and 2001, only three produced three fledglings. Since eggs are laid at 2-4 day intervals, and the female begins incubating as soon as the first egg is laid, the first chick has an age, size and strength advantage of a week or more over the third. Interestingly, the oldest of these three chicks seems to ignore the smallest one, while the middle chick has been aggressive at times. Happily, the parents take pains to see that all three chicks are fed. If food were scarce, the oldest chick would out-compete the smaller chick(s), and they would starve, be forced out of the nest, or even eaten by the larger sibling.  For updates on the eagles and information about plans for a sanctuary and nest camera, visit the Nest Watching FORUM.

When I arrived the female was on the nest, feeding the chicks:



I clearly saw all three eaglets. The amount of white down decreases with age. The smallest one was near the adult’s foot, and the oldest was in the center:



The chicks watched as their mother departed:


The
female cleaned her bill and roosted in the melaleuca graveyard. Oh the
joys of motherhood! — her plumage is soiled with fecal matter:

The middle chick flapped quite a bit:


This seemed to annoy the oldest chick, who popped up and bit him on the wrist:



Then, the male parent came in with unknown prey and spent a lot of time feeding the chicks. Note how the tree trunk is “painted” with excrement, as the chick learn to expel wastes over the edge of the nest (too bad that mom was in the way):


The male flew over to the melaleucas and joined the female:


In the meantime, Frank Ortis, Mayor of Pembroke Pines, showed up with a reporter and photographer from the Sun-Sentinel. Click here for a video of nest and interview with Mayor Ortis. I fear that this will attract crowds of onlookers:


The Mayor has been very supportive of our efforts to protect the local eagle nest from undue disturbance, including development of an eagle protection ordinance, and he plans to officially designate the eagle’s nesting area as a City sanctuary:


3 Responses to “Three eaglets in local nest”

  1. Barb Jensen Says:
    Hi Ken, I’m thrilled to learn through the media that the Eagles are again nesting. My winter residence is on a lake in Margate. Last year, just by chance, I watched as an Eagle, presumably an adult from this nest, struck a gull on the lake, flew off and quickly returned to grab it and head off in a westerly direction. It happened so quickly there was no time to capture it on my camera. Since 1998 I’ve been actively involved in an Osprey Reintroduction project in southern MI and have witnessed a couple of Eagle/Osprey encounters. In fact there is an Emmy award winning documentary showing our first nesting Osprey pair chasing a Bald Eagle out of it’s territory. Besides stealing fish from Ospreys Eagles are known to prey on Osprey nests and capture a chick or two for themselves. Your blog is beautiful and very informative. I’m passing it along to my MI birding friends. Barb
  2. Larry Jordan Says:
    I’m glad to hear that the mayor and the community are taking care not to disturb the nesting pair. We have a pair of Bald Eagles that have been nesting right next to a bridge on the main highway into Redding, California. They put up a camera so everyone can watch the progress this year. The pair now has three eggs they are sitting on. You can see the nest cam here at TurtleBay.org. You’ve got some great shots there. My favorite is the second one where you can see the huge size difference in the chicks. I hope they all make it!
  3. Eileen Says:
    Awesome shots of the eaglets. Glad to hear that they will not be disturbed or stressed.

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