Southwest Florida Eagle Cam

[Benjamin Haines]

[lhb412]

Ooooh, I imagine watching something like this could be quite rewarding.

I remember listening to an episode of some public radio program that dealt with one of these cams - but there was a lot of drama! The researcher who set up the cam passed away, and the guy who inherited it wanted to keep it up in her memory, but when the mama bird began to ignore (...or was it actively bully/torment?) one of the babies folks from all over the world watching the cam started harassing the guy telling him to intervene and help but the guy wasn't sure if such a thing would violate his principles as a scientist - it was harrowing, I tell ya! Harrowing!

[Benjamin Haines]

It was very rewarding watching E9 grow up from a newborn hatchling to an independent juvenile in a span of just four months, and it blows my mind to think that it all happened in such a short time.

I don't know about any drama with the the folks behind this eagle cam but there have definitely been some harrowing moments in the past year that I've been watching it. E9 was hopping in the branches around the nest doing wing exercises early on the morning of March 14 when s/he accidentally flipped over the side, hung there for a few seconds and then plummeted down, instinctively flapping to a safe landing on the far side of the pasture. It's so incredibly cool seeing this little raptor touch the ground, fly through the air and explore the world for the first time at 73 days old.




So far in the current nesting season, both Harriet and M15 have been attacked by an owl on separate occasions. Eagles can't see well in the dark and this owl has no problem attacking while they sleep. The most recent incident was on November 23, with the owl knocking M15 off a branch while Harriet was incubating the eggs.

[Benjamin Haines]

Both eggs began hatching yesterday and E10 finished hatching last night! E11 is still working on getting out.

[Benjamin Haines]

E11 finished hatching yesterday afternoon, and with that, we have two newborn eaglets for the new year! They're tiny now but they will grow so very quickly. It's a harsh world out there but Harriet and M15 are both very competent parents.

[Benjamin Haines]

E10 and E11 have grown dramatically over the past month.

This is what they looked like when they hatched:




This is how much they grew after 9 days:




15 days:




20 days:




And this is how they look today at 33 days:










They’re both growing up strong and healthy so far. It will take them years to develop white plumage on their heads and they won’t reach full maturity until about age five. Barring unforeseen circumstances, they will probably spend about the next month-and-a-half living in the nest tree before venturing out to explore the pasture beyond, and then it'll be late April or early May when they fly off to find their own paths in the world.

[Benjamin Haines]

We're now likely past the halfway point of E10 and E11's time growing up in this nest. They have both grown into vivacious juvenile eagles. They spend a lot of time exercising their wings by flapping.

Both of them branched for the first time two months after they were born, E10 on February 26 and E11 on February 27. The nest bowl is the center of a newborn eaglet's world so any initiative to move further from it is a milestone in their lives. Now E10 and E11 know what it feels like to grip a tree branch outside of their nest and they've both since practiced hopping about. They will use the newfound space to perform more strenuous wing exercises as they work themselves up to eventually leaving the tree and touching the ground. That will probably happen within the next two weeks.

They are also getting much more confident and competitive when it comes to feeding.