Jordan Lake. First Nest. Yesterday had intermittent rain showers. 1st photo the biggest chick has rain splatters all over her dark brown feathers. 2nd photo she got mad and shook the rain off because eagles really do not like getting wet. 3rd photo: all three chicks and mom Kate. I included a photo to help you locate all four birds.
Jordan Lake. First Nest. Triplets!!! Kate and Bard have three chicks. The usual number of chicks in a nest is two – 3 is uncommon. The small chick laying across the front of the nest is probably the youngest of the 3. Sometimes eggs are laid and hatched several days apart. The 2 bigger chicks are looking up at Dad Bard – you can see the back of his head and his tail.
Jordan Lake. We can look at this photo in two ways. We can see that the female 3-year-old bald eagle has a wing length of ~7ft. The female osprey has a wing length of ~ 5ft. The fish, well, has a fin length of ~ 4 ins. Or we can look at the fact that the bald eagle weighs ~ 12#, the osprey weighs ~ 6#, the fish that the eagle wants to steal weighs about a pound… the osprey is carrying ~ a quarter of its own weight.
Jordan lake. 1st chick seen this year at the nest. The afternoon backlighting of the nest made the chick sparkle. The chick is at the light green arrow. There may be a possible chick at the light pink arrow but we will have to wait to see them both at the same time to know for sure.
Jordan Lake. Oh my! A bald eagle CHICK! This is the first chick I have seen this season. The 4-5 week old chick is located at the Mystery Nest. For a long time we were not sure if this new nest was going to be occupied. To locate the chick: go to the right from mom eagle until you run into the big branch sticking out at you, then look for the black beak of the chick above the nest brim. I think there may be a second chick just to the right of that big branch.
Jordan Lake. Still no eggs. Gate is open. The photo is a four-year-old bald eagle. It is one of a couple of juvenile eagles that have been testing Loblolly and Pitch’s territorial limits at their nesting site. This is a normal behavior for immature bald eagles. These youngsters will quite literally raid a nest of eggs or chicks if they get a chance. Loblolly and Pitch are having to defend their territory against these intruders and also cope with visitors in the parking lot.
doc ellen's journey 