bald eagle chick

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By JL Raptor report: Ranger Nest 7 photos 05-04-2018
Ranger Nest:
 
An unknown fledgling flew over the Ranger nest.  
Interestingly enough, neither parent bird saw this foreign youngster as a threat.
 MARK0121 WO East 01-05-18 15-26-1-1-1-Edit
Mom Ranger had been preening when something way down the cove caught her attention and she dashed off to investigate.
My human eyes could not see what had caused the eagle to take flight.
 MARK0215 WO East 01-05-18 15-51-1-1-Edit
Both Ranger chicks – note how shiny black the baby’s beak is – this is normal for this age.
 MARK0339 WO East 01-05-18 16-39-1-1-Edit
That is dad Osprey, from the neighborhood, flying above the eagle nest.
He certainly caught the attention of both bald eagle chicks!
The osprey is an annoyance but not a threat to the eagle chicks.
 MARK0376 WO East 01-05-18 16-42-1-1-Edit
Mom Ranger is staring down at a red-headed woodpecker that had landed about 20 feet below her.
I couldn’t get both birds in the photograph.
MARK0447 WO East 01-05-18 17-09-1-1-1-1-Edit
 
As the day got hotter, the chicks instinctively panted and dropped their wings to get better airflow around their bodies.
 MARK0703 WO East 01-05-18 18-37 1-1-1-1-Edit
This 4-year-old bald eagle is a threat and grave danger to the Ranger chicks.
Both Ranger parents came screaming in to protect their chicks.
The juvenile bald eagle ignored everybody and calmly flew across the cove and out of sight.
 MARK0271 WO East 01-05-18 16-04 1-1-1-Edit

 

By JL Eagle Nest report: H&G nest 3 photos 4/26/2018
H&G Nest
One of the chicks is branching.  It is above the nest to the left, beside the vertical light brown trunk – you can see its body and tail.
Below it are the other two chicks.
YES, there are still 3 chicks in the nest!!!
 MARK7483 Ebenezer 26-04-18 08-57 H&G nest branching
Another view of the chicks.
 
MARK7532 Ebenezer 26-04-18 09-29 H&G nest branching
 
The adult is dad Hershey. 
 Peeking around the main tree trunk at dad is one of the chicks – you can see the chick’s beak just above the nest rim.
 MARK7419 Ebenezer 26-04-18 08-33 1 H&G nest branching

By JL Eagle Nest report: First Nest, 1 photo, 1 video 4-16-2018
First Nest
Resolute is going ever higher up in the nest tree.
Preparing for that first flight.
In the photo, Resolute had gotten up in the tree and dad Petruchio showed up with a fish.
Resolute wanted the fish but couldn’t quite figure out how to get down into the nest.
Finally, the chick just let go and fell down into the nest and onto dad.
Yep, there was quite a ruckus!
In the video you will see Resolute trying out all kinds of new perches.

By JL Eagle Nest report: H&G Nest video 04-13-2018

H&G nest snippets

I think the smallest of the eagle trio may still be with us. The State Rangers, one of the other monitors and I have been watching closely since we saw the first of my video snippets in this movie from 2 days ago.  In the first snippet: the large and medium chicks are playing to the right of the main trunk.  Mom Godiva is on the horizontal limb in front of the nest.  Hershey is in the nest to the left and he appears to be feeding the smallest chick.  I wish I had a long enough lens to film the nest directly, maybe one day … in the meantime thank you for putting up with my sway as I use my iPhone to record the video on the back of my Canon camera – which is on LIveView at 10x zoom.  One of my friends is working on a jig to mount my iPhone directly behind the Canon so that the recording will be level and without my sway.  Hope we can get there sooner than later!  The rest of the snippets are family life in the H&G nest – chicks playing, mom and dad nest repairing, a good scratch or two and flights by the parents in and out of the nest.