After watching the 18:00 feeding at the NE Florida Bald Eagle nest of Gabby and Samson, I don’t think we need to worry about Little Bit aka NE27. Both chicks are up by the adult and there is a fresh fish. I did a little over 2 minutes of recording. Little Bit is the eaglet in the back. Just watch him grab that fish! And look at that crop. This little eaglet has a whole new level of confidence.
Enjoy!
Thank you for joining me this evening. All is well at this nest. The more confidence Little Bit gets the more he will not be intimidated by his big sibling. Take care!
Thank you to the NEFlorida Bald Eagle and the AEF for their streaming cam where I took my video clip.
Since the time of the storm, NE26 has been very competitive when it comes to food on the NEFlorida Bald Eagle Nest. Yesterday, the younger and much smaller sibling, NE27, did not have any food. The evening before Samson fed 27 until Little Bit had a large crop. Eaglets can go for as long as three days without food. Is it good for them? No. Do they get stress feathers? They can if the stress is severe. We have seen food competition on the SWFlorida Eagle nest but only for a few days when E19 and E20 were wee. We have seen it on the WRDC nest with R1 and R2 in a manner like what we are seeing on the Jacksonville nest of Samson and Gabby. It is good to remember that both R1 and R2 are doing well.
This morning a fresh fish was brought on to the nest of Gabby and Samson. There continues to be alert behaviour with the eagles. I made two short video clips. The first starts mid-way in the feeding. NE27 is very hungry and is getting its courage to snatch and grab. In the second clip NE27 is more comfortable dodging 26s’ head pecks and the old snatch and grab.
The first shows how easily younger and smaller siblings can be intimidated. You will notice that by now NE27 is very close to the parent and will discover putting its head over the rim of the nest out of 26s’ way. The parent will change the direction of the fish at some point. NE27 lands some bites of food. There is still fish left on the nest.
But wait.
NE27 if full and moves over to the other side of the nest. NE26 stays up by the fish. Look at its eyes. It is thinking I could just go over there and eat that fish myself!
Then Samson returns with another fish and NE26 is in the sweet spot to get some food. Perfect. Doesn’t that just put a smile on your face? NE27 is not paying attention – and then, of course, it notices what is going on.
This is a good position for 26 – behind Little Bit!
Both eaglets have a small crop. There is lots of fish on the nest. NE26 is still staring at that fish, though. Hunger is a huge motivator to self-feeding!
NE27 is learning to survive – to be clever, to work around the older sibling. Well done NE27! We are really proud of you.
At the 12:22 feeding, the adult fed NE26. Sadly NE27 went into submissive posture and did not get fed. But after the parent left, this is what happens.
26 passes out in a food coma and 27 continues to work on the fish.
Samson jumps into the nest. I thought he was going to feed them again.
But immediately he was off and Gabby was left as the lookout. This nest has had so much trouble with intruders.
Little Bit. You hold your head up high. You earned it today.
There are many articles about sibling rivalry on Bald Eagle nests.
“I think there’s always some form of sibling rivalry,” says Dianna Flynt, the rehabilitation supervisor at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Florida. “There has to be, because the stronger, older bird is going to be more aggressive when it comes to surviving. But sometimes, it’s very severe.”
Food availability is key. We saw Samson load the nest last week when the big storm was coming. Now you will see a fish on the nest because both Gabby and Samson have had to deal with intruders. Indeed, Gabby was very alert when she was feeding the eaglets this morning. So food being available and in quantity, weather, and other factors such as intruders can all influence eaglet behaviour on the nest.
Sibling rivalry is hard to watch – for all of us. We don’t like to see discord amongst the chicks but I sincerely believe, that in the long run, 27 is going to be just fine. Do not worry about 27. This nest is going to work out just like the WRDC in Miami with R1 and R2 and that is just fine. So big rounds of applause for NE27 who figured out how to get around that pecking older sibling today!
Thank you so much for joining me today. It is snowing and snowing again. Cannot believe how much snow we have this year. But – it is also very beautiful. Take care everyone.
Thank you to the NEFlorida Bald Eagle and AEF nest for their streaming cam where I took my video clips and screen captures.
Sometimes you don’t need any words to go with the images. It was 13:30 Saturday 20 November at Diamond and Xavier’s scrape box in Orange, Australia. Yurruga is 44 days old.
Some of the volunteers at the Lindsay Wildlife Hospital are on the grounds around UC-Berkeley in case there is a falcon that needs to go in care. So far nothing. Annie has been seen soaring with the intruder that injured Grinnell. Despite Grinnell returning to his and Annie’s territory there is no certainty that he will be successful in winning his mate back or keeping his territory. Will bring all news to you when I hear it.
Bazza ‘finally’ got a portion of a fish at 12:36 yesterday. Here is a parent delivering.
The boys and their wings.
You can see Bazza’s red leg band – he has the portion of fish. Good job, Bazza. Look at Dad’s nice crop. My goodness. He has delivered so many fish to this nest I wonder if he had any portions for himself. We know the answer now.
It is so funny. Falkey is mantled like he has a fish too. Ervie is full and doesn’t care. Bazza enjoyed every morsel. Now – everyone has eaten and it is only the middle of the day. Dad has brought in at least three fish in 6 hours. Gold star.
Falkey will go on to get the 17:15 delivery from Dad. Falkey is really getting good at grabbing those fish. He seems to have ditched his nickname ‘Mellow Yellow’.
At 19:13 Bazza is going to steal what is left of Falkey’s fish right from under him. Good work, Bazza. He’s catching on. That is grand.
Bless his heart, Dad brought in yet another fish at 19:50. Bazza and Ervie fought for it. Lost it and then Ervie found it. Dad is really taking care of his boys. Thanks, Dad. If you are wondering, Bazza has hovered but has not done any flying other than the day he had the fight with Ervie and landed on the deck of the boat in Dad’s area.
Other News:
For those of you wondering about the Cornell RTH camera of Big Red and Arthur, there is a power outage at the Alumni Fields that is affecting the camera.
Poole Harbour Osprey Friends will be holding a free on line talk about the importance of bird life. Here is the information:
Bruce Yolton who writes the blog Urban Hawks and takes amazing images of the raptors in New York City, has been looking at the 86th Street Peregrine Falcons. Have a look.
I have been lucky to have stayed in Southeast Asia many times. I am particularly fond of Cambodia and Laos. The rice farmers in Cambodia have started planting a new type of rice to attract the birds back to their fields. It is a good little read.
It has been a great morning. We have not seen the garden rabbit, Hedwig, for some time. We were afraid that the construction of new condos about three blocks away destroyed the rabbit burrows. Perhaps the rabbits have moved. I was delighted to see him. He must have been under the feeders eating seed for some time because I didn’t have time to get my camera before he left.
Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone. Enjoy your Saturday. I am going to step back and listen to Ferris Akel’s Tour until it is time to feed all the birds.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots: the Port Lincoln Osprey and Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross.
