In the Pines

Hope and Honor



Hope and Honor



Honor



Look Hope, 1 foot!

Hope

Desiree Deliz

How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place!

Hope takes the spotlight

SW Florida Eagles 'A Beautiful Perspective' 3-15-2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRFarBbIqis&feature=youtu.be

 

Morning

 

 

My tummy is rumbling

Evening 

Beautiful Wings

I can fly - I can touch the sky!

Anyone seen Mom or Dad?

 

Food Drop!

Eating Egret

I know, I know... but eagles will be eagles. Seems to be a bunch of feathers and not much else:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1B9OIzenOw

What the heck did they have for dinner?

A featherbed in the nest!

Branching

Honor

Honor branches three times on the morning of Friday, March 15th.

Here is a video of the second branch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVtr3n_b0lU

On the third branch, Honor disappears, leavng Hope home alone.

Just me and my shadow

A flurry of wings and shadows

And then: two birds in the nest!



Honor flops down, exhausted
while Hope looks on, fascinated.

 

Hope keeps watch over Honor and seems think something is wrong. No sign of Mom or Dad.

Hope pecks at Honor.

But Honor is dead to the world

Honor finally lifts his head -- whew!

Not until Honor looks up does Hope relax.  



Both eaglets relax now



In fact, mom and dad were never far way, Here they are watching Honor branch.

By the end of the day Honor has branched about six times and Hope has done her first branch:

 

Hope gets air time (wheeee!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeXcitgFFkk&feature=youtu.be

 

 

 

 

 

Hope Floats

The eaglets are almost ready to fly away! It's about 2 1/2 months since they were born, so it's about time. It  will be bittersweet for those of us who have been following them in the nest.

Hope elevating above the nest

Airborne

These are funny videos of Hope and Honor wingercising and getting ready for the big day, which could be any day now.

SW Florida Eagles_03.11.13_Honor Has Had ENOUGH!_7:23 PM EDT
After Hope has wing-whapped Honor all evening, Honor wingercises and Hope gets annoyed. Honor lets Hope know that her attitude is NOT appreciated!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z05hqXlHYls&feature=youtu.be

SW Florida Eagles_03.11.13_Annoying the Sibling by Leaps and Bounds_6:21 PM EDT       
    
Hope does some gigantic flaps, hops, and leaps around the nest and poor Honor gets no rest.     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCUurKaWiTI&feature=youtu.be

WIngercising

Picture compliments of Bill Fletcher

   

The step before branching outside of the nest, is wingersizing inside the nest. This is all part of the preparation.

SW Florida Eagles_03.11.13_Annoying the Sibling by Leaps and Bounds_6:21 PM EDT 
Hope does some gigantic flaps, hops, and leaps around the nest and poor Honor gets no rest.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCUurKaWiTI&feature=youtu.be    
 

          SW Florida Eagles_03.11.13_Honor Has Had ENOUGH!_7:23 PM EDT   

After Hope has wing-whapped Honor all evening, Honor wingercises and Hope gets annoyed. Honor lets Hope know that her attitude is NOT appreciated!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z05hqXlHYls&feature=youtu.be

  

The Fine Art of Nest Building

As the eaglets get bigger it seems that the parents are sharing my concern about the possibility of them falling out of the nest before they can fly.

Ozzie encounters a bit of trouble when building up the nest.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73lu12iPuSI

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVxjg1HkNvQ&feature=youtu.be