Jordan Lake. First Nest. Two of the three triplets have branched. When a bald eagle chick branches it jumps / hops / half flies to a branch above the nest. They use the nest as a safety net below them. This is the last practicing step before they fly! Look for the 2 sets of yellow feet on the branch above and to the left of the chick in the nest.
Jordan Lake. First Nest. Dad Bard is hunting on the ground. I don’t know what he found. Most likely a small bird or small mammal. He took it to the nest. Watch the reaction of the three chicks as they see Dad coming in. Everybody piles in on Dad’s feet. He manages to stay up right. At the end you can tell by which way dad and two of the chicks are looking to the left who got whatever the food was. What a melee.
Jordan Lake. First Nest. Dad Bard landed in the nest with a small fish. All 3 chicks were watching his feet. They knew where the fish was. Then there was a shoving match to see who would end up with the fish. It was Big Chick that won the fish. All three chicks are doing well. Arrows in first photo point to the 3 chicks.
Jordan Lake. First Nest. The chicks this morning were doing a lot of wing wapping and trampolining. The biggest of the chicks was certainly hogging most of the space much to the annoyance of the other two chicks. The big chick was getting a lot of vertical air between its feet and the nest!
Jordan Lake. All three of the TRIPLETS are alive and doing well! Captain Doug and I managed to get out today to monitor our nests after the big rain, high lake levels and wind. Dad Bard is feeding his chicks. Second photo with arrows so that y’all can see where all three chicks were in the nest. I hope all of you are smiling as big as I am.
Jordan Lake. First Nest. Bald eagle chicks soon begin to exercise their wings and chest muscles in anticipation of eventual flight. I call this exercise “wing wapping”. As you can see the exercise can get quite vigorous. At one point the chick that is wing wapping is annoying the other two chicks.
doc ellen's journey 