The day did not start off looking good for Little Middle at the Dale Hollow Bald Eagle nest. Little Middle was not interested in eating and had monofilament line wrapped around the toes of its left foot since the previous afternoon. That tight line can clearly be seen at 08:28:09.
Little Middle missed the morning breakfast because of that fishing line. He was pecking away at it.
At 09:37ish, Little Middle has moved over to the rim of the nest next to Big who did eat breakfast. The remaining fish is on the other side of Big. It is unclear if Little Middle’s foot is still tangled. He is not wanting to move much and I cannot see. Little Middle is hungry! And we know how clever he is. Have a look at what he does – I am so proud of him.
If he held the fish down, it would officially be self-feeding I suppose. But for now, give the kid a round of applause. Brilliant.
By 11am, the filament on Little Middle’s foot has been cut by the little eaglet persistently biting away at it. Another gold star for the middle hatch at the Dale Hollow nest today!
The monofilament line can be seen to the left of Little Middle’s right foot. Thankfully it is off his left foot but neither eaglet is out of danger as long as that line is on the nest.
It has been a joyful day.
Thank you to each and every one of you who sent positive wishes and prayers to this nest, to ‘L’ who contacted A Cerere to see if he could help, and to ‘KB’ who put out feelers for help. Your optimism gives me hope that this little eaglet is, indeed, going to fly one day!
Thank you to Dale Hollow Bald Eagles for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures and video clip.
The line was wrapped around the hallux and talon 3 and over talon 1 at 08:28:31.
But…look now. Tears!!!!
The line is still on the nest but – this is good to know. It appears that the line is off Little Middle’s feet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did someone wish for a miracle? or did all of you?
Keep watching. If you see anything regarding line on their talons – including Big, please let me know. Thank you for all your positive wishes and help. I don’t know what happened and I don’t care. Two hours ago I thought Little Middle would surely lose its talon if it could not rid itself of that line. Whew! Little Middle appears to have dodged another bullet.
Take care all. It could turn out to be a good day…oh, BTW. Jasper at the NEFlorida nest of Gabby and Samson has branched this morning while I was watching Little.
Thank you to the Dale Hollow Eagle cam where I took my screen captures.
It is difficult to believe but it appears that the Little Bit or Tater Tot at the Dale Hollow Nest is still alive. This is quite unbelievable. The will of this little wee eaglet to live is intense. It has moved again to try and get in the shade. It does not have the protection that the other two eagles have. It still had natal down despite its 17 days old. The other two are 20.
If rewards of fish could be given, this little one would win them all. It has lowered its breathing so it doesn’t use up so much energy and it has played possum more than twice to survive. This was at 16:25.
In other news, I have heard from a reader in Lithuania, ‘S’ who has cleared up a mystery about Milda at the Durbe White-tailed Eagle nest. Milda has been through a lot of mates since she lost her long time partner last year. This is what ‘S’ writes: “I just wanted to add on our Latvian WTE nest – Milda has a new partner now – Voldis (a shortened version of the name of the Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky). She has recently laid 2 eggs (15/03 and 18/03), but Voldis seems a bit inexperienced and is not willing to incubate for longer periods of time, nor is he bringing food for Milda while she incubates. We hope the situation improves, but it may as well be that the eggs do not hatch this year under these circumstances. Hope dies last, of course.”
Meanwhile, there is no news at the Captiva Osprey nest over the cause of Big Bob’s sudden death. However, Middle and Little are doing very well!
Mum Lena offered Little Bob the fish tail. Yum, yum. He was happy to have the honour.
I just checked at the Dulles Greenway Bald Eagle nest of Rosa and Martin. For a second some of us saw the chick below and thought we were seeing double. There is, however, just one chick on the nest, confirmed by the moderator. And it is a cutie!
Why does one egg hatch and not the other? The Dulles Greenaway nest posted this informative article.
The Red-tail Hawk celebrity couple, Big Red and Arthur, at the Cornell Campus are doing great and waiting for the arrival of egg 3 tomorrow. Big Red is trusting Arthur with more of the incubation duties and he has happily provided her with the gift of a mouse today for her afternoon tea.
Everything also looks good on a hot Friday afternoon in California at the West End nest. The three eaglets of Thunder and Akecheta are literally sleeping with the fishes. Oh, they are going to have such gunky fur! Yikes.
There are no new reports of Cal Falcons Annie and Grinnell or Ervie at the Port Lincoln Osprey Project today.
I am exhausted from the happenings at Dale Hollow. Little Bit or Tater Tot would be a formidable eagle if it could survive. Twice now I have thought it died. Even the moderators on the Dale Hollow chat which they opened up just this morning believed so. Please send all your love. Surround it with love! If my grammar has gone sideways today, I apologize. There has been a lot of stress today. Wrap your arms around Little Bit!
Correction: Apologies to ‘A’ who first alerted me to Little Bit remaining alive. I previously said it was ‘L’.
Thank you for joining me. I cannot see a problem at any other nest! Take care everyone! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures: Cornell Bird Lab and the RTH, Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, Dale Hollow Eagle Nest, Dulles Greenaway Bald Eagles, West End Eagles,
One of my readers, ‘L’ just sent me a message that Little Bit on the Dale Hollow Lake Bald Eagle nest moved. I do not want to make light of this little one’s suffering and pain but, this is astonishing. Thank you, Lisa. This is one very tough little eaglet. For the record, it is 3 days younger than the Big one and has not eaten in 82 hours.
WARNING. THESE IMAGES ARE GRAPHIC
This was Little Bit after the twisting, peaking, and thromping at 12:37.
At 15:49 there appears to be a very faint heart beat. Little Bit is blinking its eyes. This is the toughest little eaglet I have ever seen in my life. Sweet Baby.
