Greetings. Although I was not able to spend a good deal of time at the
CNWRefuge Center today, I can confirm the following: both chicks were dry,
downy, energetic, active, alert and warm as of 1600.
At 0900 the male was brooding and facing S on the nest. [According to again
early arriving Refuge staff, a feeding had occurred at about 0835.] Over
the next hour the adult shifted his position to the E, then to the S again
and finally to the W before the female arrived without prey at 1014. During
the shifting, wiggling and squiggling of the male, the chicks were visible
from time to time at the carpal joint of the male's wings. The male was
clearly depressing his wings into the nest surface to shelter the chicks
from the SW winds which blew at 10-15 knots through the mostly sunny morning
followed by an increasingly cloudy afternoon. The older chick, who has
developed a dark eye-stripe, was predominate, but the younger chick was also
seen periodically.
Upon arrival of the female, the male did not immediately leave the nest cup.
Rather the pair vocalized briefly before the male left after 40 seconds or
so. The female proceeded to feed both chicks from the again cached
three-day old waterfowl, coot?, remains. To this viewer, the size
difference between the two chicks was not nearly as great as it seemed
yesterday. The older, larger was far more inerested in eating morsels
offered by the female, however, the younger chick ate three morsels before
the female undertook brooding responsibilities at 1023. To my mind the
younger chick ate with vigor equal to that of the elder when that chick was
of similar age.
For those who have been following the CNWR eagles, it seems safe to conclude
that the third egg which disappeared from the nest at some point during the
storm of Tuesday p.m./Wednesday a.m. was also the third egg which had been
laid. This is confirmed by the short period of time which passed between
hatchings--somewhere between 29 hours and 47 hours, likely 36 to 40 hours,
given the condition of the first chick when it was first observed at the
nest at 0930 on Wednesday.
Following the 1020 feeding I left the Center until 1445. No feeding or
switch took place at the nest prior to closing of the Center at 1600.
However, the staff confirmed that the period of time between feedings was
between 90 and 120 minutes today. My observations during the morning and
late afternoon, especially the shifting of the adult about the nest and the
adult wiggling and squiggling coupled by the activity of the older chick at
the brest/carpal joint of the adult, led me to question whether the brooding
adults were choosing to shelter/brood the second eglet in preference to
feeding the older eaglet. Or was there just a shortage of prey to feed
either chick? More prey is needed at the nest, or so it seems.
Got to go. Peter Doherty
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