Hancock Wildlife Foundation

7:55-7:58 a.m.: What a relief, indeed! The eaglet on our right is self-feeding! I'm surprised the eaglet on our left isn't trying to steal it (but maybe that eaglet got the first food drop).

What wonderful news to wake up to! Thanks, Darlene! That is definitely Sur! (not that you can tell from this Scap!)
Dee, I think got the first two food drops - just checking on #3

Thank you all for these wonderful happy reports! I didn't realize just how tense I was until I read your posts and relaxed.

I've rebooted the North cam but it's still pixelated. I'll try a second reboot in a few minutes if it doesn't resolve itself. While I'm logged in, I'll try for some closeups.

This is Dee.

Not an easy position to get a good look at the head. Ah - this is better, watching Ess flap.

I changed my mind, now I think it was Ess that got the first two - it is so hard to tell from the South cam!

Here is Ess's tail, which happily still has white on the tips of the feathers.

Ess was trying to put a stick on Dee - Dee is on the right, Ess on the left

The head shots of Ess aren't quite full profile - I may try again in a bit.

What I'm trying to see here - and this is where I really need to organize my factoids about eagles better - I remember reading somewhere that the beak comes further back in either males or females, but don't remember which. The end of the beak goes back to the middle of the eye on one, and slightly past the middle of the eye on the other. And I don't really know if this is always true, or often true, or has been true for the pairs observed by the organization that posted it as one of the ways to tell Mom and Dad apart - and I also don't know how old an eagle needs to be before this works as a marker.

Anyway, if they seem to be different, it may be another way to tell them apart when we can't see their tails. Ess's beak looked to me as if it might go back slightly farther than Dee's - but the angle wasn't good, so I'll put that on hold for now.

North embedded seems to be streaming better after the second reboot. I've had to click the Live link once or twice, but sound isn't choppy, which is a good sign.

Chicks with Sticks (30 seconds)

A classic steal and great mantling during the first food drop!

Ess steals from Dee (I think!) (1:58)



So that means Dee got the first drop and Ess stole! I think - Help, Judy!

Stealer on the left Anyway, it doesn't matter both got some! And I have to go - gone for the day!

And I am running out of juice!

Good morning ladies, well I have never been so happy to wake up to good news in a long time. I was pretty depressed when I went to bed. Now I think it was that beeping sound that may have kept them away. If I am right it is a crane-like truck that brings gyprock and windows to the homes. Also, the beeping sound might have been a reason on its own.

Thank you for the beak info, I was also looking to see if there was a different way to tell the two apart. I used to raise Discus fish and had to make sure I got a male and female. Sometimes it was very hard to tell but I was lucky and got them right.

Thank you all for reporting this good news, took forever for my computer to open up this morning.
Off to peek.

9:56 Sur just dropped in with more food. It was something small and one of the eaglets swallowed it down quickly!

10:06 Sur in with something small again and the other eaglet grabbed it this time.

Morning Darlene. and thank you. Yes, I saw that, looked like part of a wing? I think they must be close today as I see Dee and Ess looking around more in the air.

I just came back from my appt!

Happy tears here !

so happy to read the good news and soo happy for Dee and Ess... all our good thoughts and prayers were answered ,...hoping and praying Res is alright to all !

So happy to read back and get this information! Thanks for the videos Darlene I can relax now.

I used to be able to tell the Ma/Pa apart by the shape of the head Pa's was always sleeker than Ma's but with some eagles they look very similar......

I think it was Ess who grabbed the fish, gemini - looked like white on the tip of the tail, and Ess seems to be more skilled at grabbing, though I'm positive Dee will catch up quickly!


From the 10:05 delivery - Ess gets this one.

Chicks mob Dad Sur (I can understand why Res would be reluctant to come to the nest right now)

Ess brings the prey to the opposite side of the nest - you can see more white on his/her tail than on Dee's tail, nearer Dad. And hmm - looking at the picture, the adult looks more like Res than Sur - white stripe on one of the dark feathers and white around the eye - will need to look more closely at my mini-video.

Not the sharpest picture, but this shows that the food is a fish.

Ess put it down on the edge of the nest and stood there for a bit before starting to work on it - and I was afraid s/he might have dropped it - but happily it was just out of sight until Dee was less interested.

Eager Eaglets! (30 seconds)


Added - delivery definitely Sur - firm landing on both feet, and his head on the South cam, and I also saw dark patches on the upper tail that's another indicator for Sur - and this does show how hard it can be to tell them apart even after all these months of watching.

from 10:17 am
Ess is working on his/her fish while Dee stands on the side of the nest. Dee appears to have at least a little bulge in the crop - it's getting harder to see that now that they have feathers there.

While I'm thinking of it - my videos aren't full screen or high res - so if anyone has a better video, please post a link. I have a new computer waiting for me to find the time to set it up - but until I do, I'm low on memory and processing power.


Out of order
From 9:56 am - Sur with maybe a little fish in his beak?

Hard to tell, because it was very quick, but I think Ess may have gotten this one also.

Actually, I didn't watch long enough - Ess grabbed it, then set it down:

And then Ess walked away from it - and it blew around a bit when Dee was flapping a minute later, so I'm thinking whatever it was didn't have much food involved - maybe a feather or very dry little roadkill?

Regardless of who got what, I'm pretty sure I've seen both do small but healthy looking poop shots, and they both seem to have food in their crops, so things do seem a whole lot better than they did at this time yesterday.

And the North cam is starting to skip and pixelate again, so I'll do another reboot, then I'm out for a while.