TRR photo by Scott Rando
Both adults of an area nest check on the young on April 9. Based on the adults feeding behavior, there are likely two and possibly three young in this nest. (Click for larger version)

Spring is here… and so are the eaglets

Aside from the warming weather, April is usually remembered for the Easter or Passover holidays, filing tax returns and seeing the first sprouts emerge from the ground. April, in our region, is also a special month for our nation’s symbol, the bald eagle.

After 35 days of incubation, eagle eggs are hatching, and adult eagles are foraging for fish and other prey to deliver to the fluffy down-covered eaglets, which are about the size of a fist. Each nest has an average of wo young, and the six-foot diameter nests seem very roomy to these. Twelve short weeks later, however, these three-ounce hatchlings will grow to be seven pounds or heavier, and have a wingspan of at least six feet. The once roomy nest will seem a lot smaller, especially when these young start exercising their wings in preparation for their first flight.

The nesting phenology, or when things usually occur, used to be easy to remember. The average nest was hatched by tax day (April 15) and the young fledged by the fourth of July. The last few years, however, show incubation start dates occurring earlier in an increasing number of nests in the area. More nests monitored in the Upper Delaware Corridor this year had hatch dates in the very early part of April. Whether this is temporary or a permanent occurrence remains to be seen.

If you see an eagle nest, keep a safe distance away (1,000 feet); eagles are very sensitive to disturbance during this time. Some agencies have installed nest cameras in nesting areas during the off season. Here is good one: dgif.virginia.gov/eaglecam .

TRR photo by Scott Rando
This week-old eaglet is being fed by the male adult during mid-April of 2005. The white down of this young will be replaced by a growth of grey secondary down and finally by feathers at five to six weeks of age. (Click for larger version)