Bald eaglets grow rapidly!
Photo by DON BARTLING Mother eagle is carrying prey to the nest to feed her eaglets. The mother feeds her chicks by tearing off pieces of food and holding them to the beaks of the eaglets.
Photo by DON BARTLING These eaglets are poking their heads above the nests rim looking for mother to bring lunch.
“The eagles nest has fortified branch walls intertwined from the mothers’ beak and tomorrow lies inside.” — Buck Stark
I have been in awe of eagles ever since I can remember. I watched a pair of bald eagles build this nest a year ago last February and raise their young last summer. So it is no surprise that I am back this year, as one of the eagle family’s biggest fans, watching the two eaglets grow up along the Kootenai River.
I have been fortunate to observe these baby eaglets since they stood up in their huge nest. I first saw the eaglets just a few weeks ago this spring, when they poked their wobbly heads up from their nest. Bald eagles build their nests at the very top of tall trees so the eaglets will be safe. Some parents come back year after year to the same nest, adding more sticks, twigs, and grass each time.
Baby eaglets come into the world totally helpless. They cannot hold their head up; their vision is limited; their legs are too weak to hold their weight. Bald eagles are altricial, which means they must rely 100 percent on their parents to protect them and care for them.
After hatching, the eaglet will dry off and fluff up to a downy gray. Food will be offered to the eaglet by the parent, who shreds meat off fish or whatever is available. Tiny pieces will be offered again and again as the eaglet struggles to hold his wobbly head still long enough to take the food. In a short time, the eaglet becomes stronger and his eating skills and coordination develop quickly.
An eaglet has a crop — a storage area — below its chin. Food goes into the crop and is then digested as needed. When the crop is “full” you can see it bulging out. This crop is actually part of the esophagus where food is stored and softened. The crop regulates the flow of food through the digestive tract.
The eaglets grow rapidly, they add about a half pound to a pound of body weight every week until they are about 9-10 weeks old, depending on if the eaglet is a male or female. Females are always larger. At about two weeks, it is possible for them to hold their heads up for feeding. When an eaglet is three weeks old they are one foot high and their feet and beaks are very nearly adult size. When they are four weeks old the eaglets are covered in a secondary coat of gray down and at about six weeks the young birds are able to stand and tear their own food.
At about three to six weeks, black juvenile feathers will begin to grow in. While downy feathers are excellent insulators, they are useless and must be replaced with juvenile feathers before an eaglet can take its first flight, some 10 to 14 weeks after hatching.
When they are about 6 weeks old the eaglets are nearly as large as their parents. The appetites’ of the eaglets is at its greatest at about 8 weeks. The parents will hunt almost continuous to feed them; meanwhile at the nest the eaglets are beginning to stretch their wings in response to gusts of wind and they may even hover for short periods. The eaglets grow stronger and at about 9-10 weeks they begin branching, this is a precursor to fledging. The eaglets around 10-14 weeks will fledge, or fly away from the nest.
Once the eaglets have fledged they may remain around the nest for four or five weeks, taking short flights while their primary feathers grow and strengthen. Their parents will still provide all of their food. The juvenile fledglings, with the exception of their color, look similar to their parents, but are nothing like them in behavior. The juveniles now have to learn to hunt, and they only have what’s left of summer to learn. After that, they’re on their own. The first winter is the most dangerous and difficult part of an eagle’s life.
Enjoy Boundary County and all its wildlife!