Little Bit 17 has a great afternoon!

16 June 2022

Hip Hip Hurray for Little Bit 17!

Little Bit 17 has gotten very good at opening up road kill and, in particular, raccoons. Today, a raccoon was delivered at 13:41:40. Little Bit 17 immediately grabbed it and mantled. At the time, 16 was on the nest and 15 was up in the branches dreaming of fledging. As some of the chatters have said on and off for a long time, 16 is lazy. She won’t fight Little Bit for the raccoon until he gets it nicely unzipped. It is simply too much work for 16 to be bothered. She has already had a fish today.

Little Bit 17 grabs the raccoon delivery at 13:41:40. He is quick.

Little Bit worked on that raccoon until 14:26 when ND16 steals it. At that point Little Bit runs over to the porch. The porch appears to be Little Bit’s security spot – away from 16.

16 is right there at the rim of the nest – waiting. Thankfully she did not attack Little Bit which fits in with her already having that salmon and also, not wanting to do the hard work.

It is difficult to know how much of the meat of the raccoon Little Bit was able to get since it takes some time to get through that fur and skin.

16 ate on the raccoon and now 15 has got it and is eating the meaty part. Little Bit 17 has come from the porch – he is not afraid of 15 – and is inching towards trying to steal some of that juicy raccoon he worked so hard to open up. — Surely 15 will leave something if 17 can’t steal it!

Neither 15 or 16 like the head of the raccoon – or at least, not to date. Normally Little Bit 17 gets to clean that up – there is a lot of fat and good nutrition in that head but it is work. Little Bit 17 is not afraid of working hard for its dinner — indeed, that is all the wee one knows. I sure hope he finds a territory that is full of nice fish! What a reward that would be.

Little Bit stole the raccoon from 15 around 15:14 and he is very busy eating up every last bit of it – fur and all!!!!!!!!!! Little Bit. You are amazing.

Everything you do on this nest is going to help you out there in the real world. Just like the little hawklet on the Bald Eagle nest, you are fast and quick. Sometimes small is not a bad thing!!!!!!

Moving over into the shade. You can see there is still some good meat on this raccoon. Little Bit is going to benefit from it all. He should have a nice crop after.

Little Bit 17 finished the raccoon and was so happy he did a great big wing flap. Oh, Little Bit if you only knew all the people that want you to have a wonderful life — with lots of big fish.

This is all that is left of that raccoon after Little Bit had it, then 16, then 15, and then Little Bit again. Still, the raptors do not let any part of the prey item go to waste, except turtle shells!!!!!!

Mum flies in at 16:13:42. At first 16 flies down thinking he might have a fish – but he doesn’t. Remember – Eagles do not waste anything. When 16 leaves, Little Bit moves up and Dad feeds him – but because 16 is on the nest, Little Bit is scared. So Little Bit 17 does the snatch and grab while Dad breaks off more raccoon pieces for him.

I thought Little Bit was going to choke on some of the bones but, no way. He got them down and got some great calcium in the process! Did I say Little Bit 17 amazes me.

The Big siblings are not interested and Little Bit 17 has relaxed even with 16 sitting on the rim. He has another bone in his beak working on getting it down.

All done. It was so nice to see Mum on the nest and to have her there to finish off that Raccoon with Little Bit. He is happy and full. Lovely. Relief. Mum is going to finish what is left.

Little Bit moved over to get some of the shade. It is 90 degrees at ground level.

And guess what? Little Bit is telling 15 to get higher up the tree…he wants to branch, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At 16:39:27 an adult flew onto the nest with a small fish. It looks like 16 got that one and then 15 steals it. Meanwhile, Little Bit 17 is having something from Mum (fish?) or was she plucking. Whatever it is, Little Bit is getting some great bites in the process.

What a day! What a good day. Little Bit got raccoon and some fish. I got to chat with some of the chatters and that was great too. We all love Little Bit!

Wow. Just look at the three of them. Now if 15 would move up some, Little Bit could branch before 16!!!!!! That would just be perfect.

Wonder what they are watching? A flying demonstration from one of the parents trying to encourage fledging?

Gosh. It was an absolutely great day at the ND-LEEF nest. Little Bit 17 is truly a survivor and is an inspiration to us all —— never give up. Give it your bet shot always.

Thank you everyone for joining me this afternoon. Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the ND-LEEF streaming cam where I took my screen captures.