December 5, 2017 in Bald Eagle
Two adult Bald Eagles perched along Merrimack River, 125 yards apart, and then a third adult flies in from the west, loops a number of times and lands on a proximate perch, while one of other eagles takes off downriver; quite a nice show! The number of wintering Bald Eagles along the Merrimack continues to grow as the weather gets colder.
June 15, 2017 in Bald Eagle
As the Bald Eagle chicks grown in size the nest starts to become very crowded! The 3 chicks are now very close to fledge time. The female remains near the nest and on watch most of the time.
Eaglets are nestlings for 10 to 12 weeks. By the time they are 9 weeks old, they are fully grown.
Some scientists did a study keeping track of all the time that the parent eagles spent at the nest. Once the babies hatched, the female was present at the nest about 90% of the time. The male was present about 50% of the time. During the study, at least one of the parents was at the nest almost all the time.
The young nestlings are directly fed raw meat starting day one. Eagles do not regurgitate food to feed their young like some other animals do.During the first two weeks, the male provides most of the food. After 3 or 4 weeks, the female provides as much food as the male, and by the late nesting period, the female provides most of the food.
March 29, 2017 in Bald Eagle
An unexpected treat to find both male and female hunkered down in the nest together late afternoon. Observed this pair under partly cloudy skies, wind from the north at 12 MPH and temps in low 40’s. Very likely that at least one eaglet has already hatched but not big enough yet to be seen at edge of nest!
