 |
| Moderator |
 |
Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:44 pm
Posts: 25870
Location: Milton, Pa.
|
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources headerYou are subscribed to News - WebCam - Eagle Cam for Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
May 14, 2014
Hello Eagle Fans,
Today has been a very nice, sunny day here at the eagle's nest. Lots of napping going on in the nest and all is well. As always, questions have been coming in about the eaglets.
First, to address the first-hatched eaglet that was taken from the nest on May 2nd. That chick sustained an injury to its "elbow" sometime during its development. The injury was old and it was a fracture that could not be repaired. That, and a systemic infection lead to the decision to euthanize the chick. While this is sad for us, the eagles instinctively continue care for the younger two without skipping a beat. The decision to rescue the eaglet was not an easy one. Our position as a scientific agency was not to intervene for any reason. When it became apparent that this decision was not popular, to say the least, we investigated the availability of the Xcel Energy crew who helped us install the camera two years ago. They were nearby and available so we removed the chick from the nest. Xcel Energy staff were phenomenal. Tim Rogers and his crew did an excellent job of getting in and out of the nest very quickly and grabbing the chick without incident. Thank you, Xcel! When the chick arrived at the Raptor Center, it was sedated, examined and radio graphs were taken. Over the next two days, doctors determined that the chick would not survive and they humanely euthanized it. You can read more about its trip to the raptor center here: https://www.facebook.com/TheRaptorCenter?ref=ts
The last-hatched eaglet has been observed breathing heavily and sometimes rapidly. This was first noticed around May 7th. We are watching closely for deterioration, but there doesn't seem to be an overall decline with its health. It is eating, defecating and behaving normally. These are all clinical signs that the bird is thriving. The breathing also happens to be improving. We are pretty confident that the youngest will be ok and will survive to fledging, which by the way, will be soon!
As you have seen, the chicks stretch their wings and flap, they walk around and peek over the edge of the nest. These are all signs that they are getting ready to fly on their own. They are almost the size of their parents now and have replaced all of those downy feathers with permanent ones. Fledging will be between about June 1st and June 15th. The chicks will stay in the general vicinity of the nest for at least six weeks after that. They need to hang around their parents, observing them hunting, flying, soaring and defending themselves. Essentially spending this time learning how to be an eagle!
Enjoy these last weeks with the eaglets!
Nongame Staff
_________________
"The time to protect a species is while it is still common"
Rosalie Edge
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Founder
|
|
Login
Register
FAQ
[/URL]
![[img]http://i518.photobucket.com/album](http://s518.photobucket.com/user/kittenface_album/media/w1.png.html){kind=link}