The Eaglets Are Fledging - Sorta!

 So another trip to our friend's farm in the eastern part of the county and we see some pretty neat stuff.  We were told that crows were attacking/dive-bombing the eagle nest, which we thought was weird, but not unheard of.  Since we are new to this sight (this spring was our first time there), that could be happening.  But once we got there we saw the typically black juvenile and realized that it could easily be mistaken for a crow.  

It's really easy to tell if you see the two birds together.  But if you don't the beak is the tell-tale sign.  A bird of prey, hawk, owl, peregrine, and eagle will all have that curved tip on their beak, while the crow or raven or any of the crow family, will have a beak that has no curve at the tip of the beak.  If they are side-by-side, like above, it's easy to see that the eagle is a lot larger than the crow, which is another difference.  

Even though the bird we saw on the nest was smaller than an adult eagle, the crook of the beak told us that it was one of the eaglets from the nest, but it was all black and from a distance, may appear to be a crow, except for one thing.

An eagle has distinct phases of color.  An eagle right out of the nest on the verge of fledging will be all black.  This is to protect it from the elements because the eagle has a huge wingspan - 6.5 for the males and 7 for the females (and no snide comments about the women needing a larger wingspan for their larger size!!!)

There is a fabulous article here, but here's a quote from the article that makes you appreciate eagles even more than their stellar beauty.  This blog location is Washington State so therefore some of the dates are off a bit as compared to Oklahoma.  

Some eaglets take their first flight and have no issues, but some may go crashing through the branches and injure their wing and won’t make it. Sometimes eaglets will fall out of the nest, due to some disturbance like fireworks, or a rogue puff of wind, and fall from the nest before they are ready or even able to fly. Those massive wings, 6.5 feet wide for males, and 7 feet for females, have their large feathers full of blood prior to being ready to fly, so if they are forced from the nest too early, they just can’t fly, and if not rescued will hide in the bushes, and usually will not make it.

So if you see an eagle on the ground, try and stay as far away as possible. It’s normal for eaglets to stand on the ground for 20 to 30 minutes while they are finding their way in the world. If you see a eagle on the ground for over an hour, then contact a professional or state or local game expert who can come asses if the eagle is injured and in trouble, or just resting and will be fine.

This makes you appreciate the eagle-fledging process even more.  Another fact that really makes you think, is that mature eagles only store enough energy to fly for 28 minutes a day.  So any extra stress or worry on the bird will cause the bird to use energy that they may need to feed themselves or their eaglets.  

So here are the shots of the juvenile that is attempting to leave the nest, however, is not quite ready.  The caretaker on the property noted that last year the adults left for about a week and then came back to help get the last one out of the nest.  When we first arrived the juvie was flapping his/her wings to try and get out of the next, but I know we alarmed him/her so we decided not to cause any more alarm and left.  The truth is that we don't stay long so as not to cause any additional stress to the stress that nature causes.  

But as usual Walt did get some killer shots.

A little wing-flapping action.  Eagles don't really flap and the lift off the nest, they sort of point down and then grab a wind current and start soaring.  So I guess you would call them soarers more than flyers.  

Aaaah - either the morning gargle or call of the wild!  The later is probably more appropriate.

And this is what finally did it for us.  This juvie is getting that "discriminating eye" that the mature eagle is so well known for.

In comparison, here's the parent (perfecting that "discriminating eye" look) and a pic of the nest which seems so much larger than this spring.  This is about two months ago.  

We might get a chance to watch the last one fledge, but depends upon the bird's and our schedules.