Jordan Lake. H&G bald eagle nest. That is one very large chick! Probably a female because the adult in the nest with her is dad Hershey. At this point the chicks are adult-sized. You can see that this female bald eagle chick is the usual 25% bigger in size than a male.
Jordan Lake. H&G nest. One of the chicks branched today! He went from just trampolining up and down on the surface of the nest to finding his courage and he popped over onto a branch. This is the last learning step before the chick leaves the nest in his first flight in a week or so.
Jordan Lake. H&N nest. It was a very cold, windy, gusty, grey morning. That did not stop the bald eagle chicks in the nest from bouncing. Dad Hershey watched one of them get quite into the act of making big wings. Then he decided enough was enough and Hershey bailed out. #BEverettJordanLake #BaldEagle #HersheyBaldEagle #hawriver #jordanlakestatepark
Jordan Lake. H&G nest. You would think that with a fish that big, which Dad Hershey had just caught, it would make quite a meal for his two chicks. Hershey dropped the fish into the nest. The two chicks fought over it. Within three minutes it was apparent that the fish was all gone because the two chicks separated to each end of the nest.
Jordan Lake H&G nest. The bald eagle chick on the left has really gotten some air underneath his feet. He has bounced straight up into the air above the brim of the nest. Landed then jumped a little bit forward. Fought for his balance. Decided he had enough exercise for the moment. I called this trampolining. It is the next step before branching.
Jordan Lake. H&G bald eagle nest. I heard dad Hershey yelling. Looked up to see dad go right over the top of his nest. I couldn’t see any chicks in the nest because the alarm called by their dad had sent them down to hide. Dad Hershey was chasing another bird. I blinked. The bald eagle was chasing a red-tailed hawk. That red-tailed hawk is smaller than the eagle chicks are at this point and is no danger to them. Dad was simply agitated and wanted to make sure that the hawk stayed out of bald eagle territory.
doc ellen's journey 