Watching Eagles: 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.

me me me!

I'm in heaven...

and greedy for more

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.

is that fire in there?

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.

too close to the edge!

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.

precious

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.