In addition to the sibling rivalry that I've been observing in the eaglets there is also parental favoritism - something that most children have encountered in one form or another. It's fascinating to see this same thing being played out by eagles.
We have observed how both parents behave towards Hope during feedings countless times. Usually Honor will submissively maintain his distance while Hope gorges. And sometimes when the two eaglets are vying for food I have watched the parents cater to Hope while ignoring Honor. Every once in a while Honor will get a bite! I suspected parental favoritism although I was afraid of being anthropomorphic, but this amazing video shows it all to be true.
At first we see Hope getting all the attention from Ozzie while Honor knows his place and keeps his distance. Then when Ozzie leaves the nest Honor finally gets his chance and grabs a piece of fish and starts eating. Then Ozzie flies back to the nest and in an amazing scene, actually goes and grabs the fish away from Honor and brings it over to Hope! At one point Honor tries to get back into the act and gets pecked by Hope!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH6721dccZI&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Watching a Southwest Florida Eagle Family
Friday, February 15, 2013
So Big
Part of the fun is watching them grow so fast. It's like watching paint dry NOT: each day they've changed in some new way. Sleeping against the new headboard Dad has built up to accomodate their bigger size, they reveal a new feature:
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| spotted tails |
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| Lunch is served |
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| Hope has lunch (while Honor stands by) |
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| Honor finally gets a bite |
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| Mom searches for second helpings growing eaglets are hungry! |
Strange Nestovers
Strange Nestovers, Including a Frog!
Hilarious video in which Hope hogs the frog as Mom tries to teach table manners.
http://youtu.be/MH-5CVPVR9A
Following which a siesta is in order.
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| Did Mom leave us a snack? I'm hungry |
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| Hope grabs the frog and attempts to swallow it whole |
Hilarious video in which Hope hogs the frog as Mom tries to teach table manners.
http://youtu.be/MH-5CVPVR9A
Following which a siesta is in order.
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| Wake up! |
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| Want more leftovers? |
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| Getting the Evil Eye |
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| poke poke |
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| Come on, lazybones! |
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Bad Hair Day
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| Yuck! |
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| Rain rain go away and don't come back another day! |
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| Oh, wretched! |
Harriet acts as an umbrella for most of the day as the wet and cold weather inundates the nest. Such a good eagle mom!
Wet Eagles
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| unhappy campers |
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Intruders in the nest
Ozzie and Harriet Defend the Nest
Feathers fly when two juniors visit the nest.
Not sure why they are there or who they are. One of them might be the eaglet from last year (there was only one last year), back to say hello.
But they are told in no uncertain terms that they must leave.
Hope and Honor are well protected.
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| Ozzie and Harriet in Stand off |
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| Harriet sbove the nest |
Feathers fly when two juniors visit the nest.
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| Immature Eagle |
Not sure why they are there or who they are. One of them might be the eaglet from last year (there was only one last year), back to say hello.
But they are told in no uncertain terms that they must leave.
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| Harriet fusses at him to leave. |
Monday, February 11, 2013
A little fuzzy
I watched something amazing on the cam last night. I was up late playing night owl when I caught the action.
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| Hariet brings something new to the nest |
It's not fish as usual, but what is it? Some kind of small black mammal. It appears to have a soft feathery black fur. Votes on FaceBook ranged from baby otter to star nosed mole to skunk. Skunk seemed to win the most votes.
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| It's a bit late dinner but Harriet does some prep work while the eaglets look on with curiosity |
Sleeping with the Enemy
Watch Honor adopt the dead creature as his fuzzy! He sleeps and snuggles with it all night. I think he gets attched to it. Only once in a while does he take a little nip at it.
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| Honor looks at the thingamajiffy |
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| Honor goes to sleep next o it |
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| Honor takes a nibble |
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| then snuggles up next to it |
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| it's so nice to cuddle |
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| feeling close |
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| waking up and watching fuzzy |
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| covering fuzzy |
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| Me and my Fuzzy |
The next morning
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| Honor looks at fuzzy: time to wake up! |
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| Mom comes in and does prep work |
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| Hope looks on Honor's not so sure |
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| Hope steps up |
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tug of war between Hope and Mom Mom takes it away from Hope Honor doesn't seem interested in eating the fuzzy |
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Winter Garden
I started watching the eagle cam as an escape from the cold realities of the arctic weather that had descended on the northeast. I was completely charmed by the two parent eagles Ozzie and Harriet who cared so lovingly for their offspring, not to mention the cuteness of the two eaglets, Hope and Honor.
I became totally fascinated, daily awash in a blissful sea of twittering. I loved hearing their tweets in the background when I was on the computer, and whenever I heard loud cries I'd switch over to the cam to see what was happening. Usually there had been an arrival at the nest whcih always prompts a rousing welcome. I was amazed at how the parents cared for the babies and for each other.
Garden of Evil?
It seemed a paradise, but I began to see a dark side when sibling rivalry started emerging in this sunny world. Or was it just plain gluttonous greed? Or simply Nature's way of ensuring survival? I watched with concern as the older and bigger Hope would bully the smaller Honor. Honor seemed to have internalized the role of victim in the little play that was being directed by Hope. It seemed that whenever a feeding was in progress Honor would lie in a heap like a wet dishrag while the hungry Hope woul grab all the food.
Evil Eaglet?
Honor seemed to have accepted the ritual as normal and did nothing to resist it. The more energetic and aggressive Hope got, the limper Honor got. I watched as Honor started to approach the feeding parent and Hope rose up like a dragon breathing fire in Honor's face! Ozzie seemed a bit stunned.
It went like this: Honor then collapsed into a subservient heap. It looked like Honor was going to bed hungry while Hope got double portions.
Honor looks fluffy but I'm wondering if there's a bag of bone under all those feathers. I hope Honor will be able to get enough food to survive and thrive, but I think he needs to overcome this damaging belief system this has been instilled in him by his competitive older sibling.
Honor Killing?
I started to worry about how far this sibling rivalry could go. Might Hope actually try to push Honor from the nest? Perish the thought! I do worry about an eaglet falling from the nest, which is 30 feet high. The eaglets are getting so big that an inadvertant fall seems possible. I noticed that the parents have been busily building up the sides the nest as they maintain it day by day.
Maybe this sort of thing normally goes on in an eagle's nest, I have no clue, having never watched one before. But it's fascinating to watch the behaviot and psychology of the eagles. They seem to be extremely intelligent.
Reassuring Update: it's all Good
Recently Honor has become more aggressive about getting a fair share of the bounty. And the eagles seem to be cuddling more when they sleep.
They often sleep apart, but last night they got all tangled up in each other.
Maybe the eaglets are getting fonder of each other. The adults really relate to each other (they mate for life). Earlier in the day Ozzie was at the nest and calling for Harriet over and over, like: Harriet dammit, where are you?
I found this video of Ozzie and Harriet giving each other goodnight kisses after a long day and a job well done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlV98mrGsd0&feature=youtu.be
I love it when the parents sometimes touch the eaglets and play with them, when they are not feeding them. That night at about 1am (yes, I'm a night owl not a lark), Ozzie was keeping watch over the eaglets as they slept.
As he stood over Hope he kept pushing her in a kind of back and forth motion - as if rocking a cradle. Absolutely amazing!
How lovely is thy dwelling place, oh lord of birds!
I became totally fascinated, daily awash in a blissful sea of twittering. I loved hearing their tweets in the background when I was on the computer, and whenever I heard loud cries I'd switch over to the cam to see what was happening. Usually there had been an arrival at the nest whcih always prompts a rousing welcome. I was amazed at how the parents cared for the babies and for each other.
Garden of Evil?
It seemed a paradise, but I began to see a dark side when sibling rivalry started emerging in this sunny world. Or was it just plain gluttonous greed? Or simply Nature's way of ensuring survival? I watched with concern as the older and bigger Hope would bully the smaller Honor. Honor seemed to have internalized the role of victim in the little play that was being directed by Hope. It seemed that whenever a feeding was in progress Honor would lie in a heap like a wet dishrag while the hungry Hope woul grab all the food.
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| me me me! |
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| I'm in heaven... |
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| and greedy for more |
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| There's plenty to go around. Maybe food's not the issue? |
Evil Eaglet?
Honor seemed to have accepted the ritual as normal and did nothing to resist it. The more energetic and aggressive Hope got, the limper Honor got. I watched as Honor started to approach the feeding parent and Hope rose up like a dragon breathing fire in Honor's face! Ozzie seemed a bit stunned.
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| is that fire in there? |
Honor looks fluffy but I'm wondering if there's a bag of bone under all those feathers. I hope Honor will be able to get enough food to survive and thrive, but I think he needs to overcome this damaging belief system this has been instilled in him by his competitive older sibling.
Honor Killing?
I started to worry about how far this sibling rivalry could go. Might Hope actually try to push Honor from the nest? Perish the thought! I do worry about an eaglet falling from the nest, which is 30 feet high. The eaglets are getting so big that an inadvertant fall seems possible. I noticed that the parents have been busily building up the sides the nest as they maintain it day by day.
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| too close to the edge! |
Reassuring Update: it's all Good
Recently Honor has become more aggressive about getting a fair share of the bounty. And the eagles seem to be cuddling more when they sleep.
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| precious |
I found this video of Ozzie and Harriet giving each other goodnight kisses after a long day and a job well done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlV98mrGsd0&feature=youtu.be
I love it when the parents sometimes touch the eaglets and play with them, when they are not feeding them. That night at about 1am (yes, I'm a night owl not a lark), Ozzie was keeping watch over the eaglets as they slept.
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| night watch |
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| rock-a-bye baby |
How lovely is thy dwelling place, oh lord of birds!
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