Wildlife of Maine - 2022 + 2023 - Bald Eagle Cam

This area is for recording observations and photos of eagle cams in North America

Moderator: N Amer Eagle Cam TA's

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Tue Jul 26, 2022 6:34 pm

One of the eaglets at the Wildlife of Maine eagle cam took a quick flight at 8:20 tonight (eastern time). Not sure if it's the one who fledged 3 days ago, or if this is a first flight for the other one - takeoff is a little hesitant, but the landing is rock solid.

Taking off.
20220726_023.jpg

Landing.
20220726_024.jpg

I will note that both eaglets have been branching, and flying from the end of a branch to the nest, so they have practiced landing on a nest. If there is still one who is not flying, it will happen very, very soon.

:vid: Quick Flight by Eaglet

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Wed Jul 27, 2022 4:31 pm

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Milo-8 is 82 days old; Milo-9 is 79 days old
1st fledge was on July 23; 2nd fledge was on July 27


7:06 pm
With big thanks to Chat members Cathy L, j5 and MaineMoxie, I've learned that the second eaglet fledged at 5:08:42 am this morning and was back in less than a minute, at 5:09:06. Both eaglets and one of the adults were seen flying around 6:30 am.

I wasn't online most of the day, so missed all the excitement, but I did get a screenshot from the dvr at 4:57 pm of both of the fledglings hanging out on one of the branches.
20220727_007.jpg



Oh - a fun moment! I went to full screen on the dvr to see if the second fledgling was hiding in the branches (they were - see red circle in the image below which is cropped from full screen):
20220727_008.jpg

And the hidden eaglet flew off!
20220727_009.jpg

:vid: Lovely Looping Flight! (1 minute)


My guess is that this is the one who fledged first - the one minute flight looked very comfortable and confident.

Have a good evening, everyone, and stay cool!

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Thu Jul 28, 2022 11:49 am

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Milo-8 is 83 days old; Milo-9 is 80 days old
1st fledge was on July 23; 2nd fledge was on July 27

Both fledglings perched by the nest at 6:50 am
20220728_002.jpg

One of the zoomers provided a tour of the area (the cam has a dvr feature so you can look back 12 hours) - here's one of the places the fledglings will be able to explore.
20220728_003.jpg

Reminder - there's more info and a link to the cam in the first post.


1:31 pm - description below originally written for my personal YouTube page WatchingEagletsGrow:

Both eaglets at the Wildlife of Maine eagle cam nest have recently fledged, one five days ago, the other one yesterday. In this brief video, the more experienced one takes off, does a flyby, and tries to land beside (or on top?) of the less experienced one - bumping the other youngster. I think a more experienced flyer would have flown off at that point, but the youngster instead chose to demonstrate how strong an eagle's grip is. It's not unusual for new fledglings to come in a little too fast for a landing and end up dangling from the branch where they had planned to perch - and the fledgling here shows one way they recover from that - all in less than 60 seconds! You can watch them live at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzWpFuikDZ0

:vid: Not Quite Room for Two (1 min)


Picture from video:
20220728_007.jpg

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Thu Jul 28, 2022 12:12 pm

3:10 pm
Fledglings keeping cool:
20220728_008.jpg
84F = 29C - cooler than last week, but still hot for Maine.

User avatar
IrishEyes
Forum Assistant
Posts: 120401
Joined: Feb 09, 2018
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by IrishEyes » Thu Jul 28, 2022 12:24 pm

Great videos Judy! . I peek in here a lot
3:19 pm Same as you Judy
screenshot_01.png
Image

HELPFUL HINTS.......Bev...member since 08/04/09

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Fri Jul 29, 2022 3:27 pm

Friday, July 29, 2022

Milo-8 is 84 days old; Milo-9 is 81 days old
1st fledge was on July 23; 2nd fledge was on July 27

5:46 pm
This is the first time I've seen both fledglings fly off from the nest tree! One of them came back quickly, with a bit of a stumble on landing (not unusual for beginning flyers), and the other did a flyby and presumably is still flying around and enjoying those big wings a few minutes later.

:vid: Two Flying Fledglings (3:41)


Getting ready.
20220729_001.jpg

First one flies off.
20220729_002.jpg

And here goes the second one!
20220729_003.jpg

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Sun Jul 31, 2022 3:54 pm

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Milo-8 is 85 days old; Milo-9 is 82 days old
1st fledge was on July 23; 2nd fledge was on July 27


I forgot to post this on Saturday - don't often catch an adult on the nest with the fledglings!
20220730_001.jpg

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Sun Jul 31, 2022 3:55 pm

Sunday, July 31, 2022

Milo-8 is 86 days old; Milo-9 is 83 days old
1st fledge was on July 23; 2nd fledge was on July 27


Sorry I haven't been online much - busy time with family. From a quick check of the chat, it looks as if all is going well.
20220731_001.jpg

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Thu Aug 11, 2022 12:11 pm

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Milo-8 is 97 days old; Milo-9 is 94 days old
1st fledge was on July 23; 2nd fledge was on July 27


Sorry I haven't been here - I took a bit of a tumble a couple of weeks ago, and haven't been able to sit comfortably for more than a minute or two at a time since then. I was thinking it would take a few days to recover - but when I checked with a nurse, I discovered that this kind of deep bruise can take a month or two. I am finally getting so I can stand for more than a few minutes and walk more than a 50-100 steps at a time - and my husband helped rearrange things on my desk so I can type standing - but I'm trying to be careful to not overdo things, so probably won't be able to post very much.

User avatar
Kitcat11848
Topic Assistant
Posts: 15734
Joined: Feb 24, 2018
Location: Baton Rouge/ New Orleans,LA area

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by Kitcat11848 » Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:11 pm

Judy, sounds painful but glad you are making progress and doing better. Seems we don’t heal nearly as fast as we used to. :%: At least we are in a slow eagle season and hopefully you will be fully recovered by the time Moms and Dads return and start serious nestorations, :hug:
Marianne
AKA: Marianne

MaineMoxie
Posts: 1
Joined: Jul 23, 2022

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by MaineMoxie » Fri Aug 12, 2022 4:28 am

Judy, Wishing you a speedy recovery. Thank you for all you do.

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Fri Aug 12, 2022 7:14 am

Friday, August 12, 2022

Milo-8 is 98 days old; Milo-9 is 95 days old
1st fledge was on July 23; 2nd fledge was on July 27
Fledge-1 has been flying for 20 days, fledge-2 has been flying for 16 days

Thanks, Marianne, and welcome to the forum, MaineMoxie!

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Fri Aug 12, 2022 10:36 am

With thanks to MaineMoxie and the other observers on the chat thread, both fledglings were seen on Monday and Tuesday (August 8 & 9), but they've only seen one at a time since then. No one slept in the nest tree Wednesday night, and I don't think anyone was there last night, though I'm not sure.

One of the fledglings is still spending quite a bit of time in the nest tree - and, in fact, is there now (1:35 pm).
202208012_004.jpg

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Sat Aug 13, 2022 12:59 pm

Saturday, August 13, 2022

Milo-8 is 99 days old; Milo-9 is 96 days old
1st fledge was on July 23; 2nd fledge was on July 27
Fledge-1 has been flying for 21 days, fledge-2 has been flying for 17 days

User avatar
JudyB
Admin
Posts: 17990
Joined: Dec 09, 2017
Location: Midcoast Maine

Re: Wildlife of Maine - 2022 - Bald Eagle Cam

Post by JudyB » Mon Aug 15, 2022 3:45 pm

Monday, August 15, 2022

Milo-8 is 101 days old; Milo-9 is 98 days old
1st fledge was on July 23; 2nd fledge was on July 27
Fledge-1 has been flying for 23 days, fledge-2 has been flying for 19 days

The last both fledglings were seen was August 9, when the older eaglet was 95 days old and the younger 92 days old; one of them had been flying for 17 days, the other for 13 days.

There has been a fledgling spending time in the nest tree every day since then (and spending time elsewhere, usually out of sight of the cam, though the people controlling it have looked and occasionally have found a fledgling perched along the river). It's possible that the fledglings have been taking turns visiting the nest tree - but it seems unlikely that they haven't been seen together at least a few times if both were still around.

There is no way to ever know, but it's my guess that it was the older one who fledged first, partly because I remember seeing that there were a couple of days when food was scarce and it looked as if the older one got it all - which is not uncommon, and not a problem if it doesn't last too long, but it could slow development slightly. I would not expect a three-day-younger eaglet who had a some days with less food to fledge first - though it definitely could happen.

The one who fledged first had been flying for 2-1/2 weeks when they were last seen - which is a bit less than average, but not by much. He or she was flying well, and they know when it's time to go. I'm also wondering if the fact they hatched later than usual is speeding up their schedule. I'm embarrassed to admit I'm not sure what food sources we have in Maine that are similar to the huge salmon runs in the Pacific northwest as a food source for young eagles - but I'm pretty sure there are some.

I do think they are both doing fine, and doing what their rather amazing instincts are telling them to do. :love:


Footnote - for those curious about what happens at other nests, I took a quick look at the statistics for the Surrey Reserve nest in British Columbia, mostly because they fledged 2 chicks three years in a row.
- In 2019, the older one fledged at 82 days and was last seen at 101 days, 19 days after fledging; the younger one fledged at 84 days and was last seen at 96 days, 12 days after fledging
- In 2020, the older one fledged at 84 days and was last seen at 105 days, 21 days after fledging; the younger one fledged at 83 days and got tangled in a power line a few days later (no serious injury but kept for observation for a couple of weeks) - and got a tracker while in rehab; the one with the tracker started heading north on July 20 and the sibling was last seen the evening before - suggesting that both headed out of the area about 3 weeks after fledging
- 2021 was also a bit complicated - there was an accidental fledge of both eaglets when the older, more active one bumped into the other one while branching, and both fell into the lower branches of the tree; the older one managed to fly off in a real fledge about 20 minutes later, but the younger one went off the perch backwards and ended up in a thick cluster of smaller branches, and wasn't able to to free himself for two days (the adults couldn't get to him to feed him - and it was during a heat wave - a very scary time for those of us following the nest). Anyway, the older one continued coming to the nest for 20 days; the younger one spent several days sleeping and eating once he made it back to the nest, then spent some time coming and going, and was last seen 24 days after he got untangled from the bushes (which we consider the actual intentional fledge). More of the story is here - viewtopic.php?f=114&t=505&start=5280#p483239
- A new young pair took over the nest in the fall of 2021 and didn't have chicks in 2022, though by the end of the season, it looked as if they were getting ready for next year.

Post Reply

Return to “Other North American Eagle Cams”