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May 19-20, 2007: What a change three weeks makes! Arriving at the nest early Saturday morning brought quite a surprise. The cute little buds on the various hardwood trees had magically sprung into huge leaves—layers and layers of broad leaves in all imaginable shades of green. From the hillside where the camera is positioned, the denseness of the forest canopy resulted in almost cave-like darkness. The baby eagle had arrived a few weeks later than normal, but spring, obviously, had not. The light at the end of the tunnel, however, was the view of the nest.
Fuzz and Feathers! At first, there was a small opening in the canopy and the nest was visible with the naked eye, but the baby was not. There were no adults in sight, either. Finally, much to our relief, the little one lifted up its head.The fuzzy-topped baby had grown considerably and was developing feathers on its wings, tail and on sections of its back. The parents were spending less time on the nest and more time on branches adjacent to it. Even when the parents were not in sight, they were occasionally heard calling from nearby trees. The baby spent much of the time sleeping or preening. The feathers initially grow out with a thin sheath-like covering, and the baby scrapes and chisels off the sheath with its beak.
A visitor has landed Surprisingly, at one point a crow landed on the branch next to the nest. Even more surprisingly, no adults were around to escort the crow out of the neighborhood. On previous occasions, the eagles have aggressively chased crows out of the area, and the crows have just as aggressively chased the eagles away from their own nest. The baby eagle, at only a few weeks old, is already significantly larger than the adult crow.
Dinner is served On Saturday, no adults were seen during the first 5 hours or so of viewing, and then, presto-magical, an adult was on the nest with a fish! With foliage blocking most of the view, there is no way to see the adults approaching the nest, so it was always a wonderful surprise when one would suddenly appear.
Even when hanging out in a cool loft at tree top level, the heat can be intense. Saturday afternoon in the sun was hot and humid. In an attempt to stay cool, both the baby and the adult were panting much of the afternoon. The adult tried to provide some shade by spreading her wings out like an umbrella, but the baby doesn't quite fit underneath like it used to.
The youngster was still primarily moving around the nest by waddling back and forth on the bottom part of the legs. But once in a while, it would stand up and walk around. It was entertaining watching it coordinate the big feet and the floppy long extensions known as wings. It would flap and flap and then flop and flop as it tried to practice the smooth movement of the parents. When it was sitting up, the wings usually were lying down at its side. The wings grow at an incredible rate—from a few inches a few weeks ago to well over a foot this weekend to around 3 feet by the time it is full grown. The pin feathers at the end of the wings will continue to grow into magnificent long flight feathers in the next few weeks. Life in the nest It was puzzling why the baby always seemed to hang out around the edge of the nest. Then the adult started rearranging the bedding in the middle of the nest and it was surprising how deep it was—she could put her whole head down there! There is usually a little cup in the middle of the nest when the baby is very tiny, but maybe that deeper depression is maintained even when the baby has grown.
Continue to Part 3 © Copyright
2008
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation |
