Big babies!

(Content warning for a messy carnivore nest full of bones of old prey, and some shots of partially eaten fish)

E15 and E16 having a good "food coma" nap at SWFL Bald Eagle nestcam. The little ones are between 3 and 4 weeks old, and are starting to be more challenging to tell apart. E16 has really started to catch up in size. E15 is at the top of the screen in this case.

Their contour feathers are starting to grow in as well, E15's are a little further along. That wing stretch shows them off quite nicely. And the comparison to the plushie shows nicely how much bigger they babies have gotten. They were both smaller than it when it was first brought to the nest!

Fish galore! Harriet stole a fish from one of the water birds at the pond, which is located at the same horse pasture as the nest tree, with the nest having a great view of what's going on at the pond. She fed both eaglets for a while, and soon M showed up with a fish of his own. Harriet confiscated that and fed it to the eaglets herself, leaving the rest of her own fish for later. She likes to be in charge of feedings whenever she's at the nest during one, but sometimes M gets to help. M on the left in the picture, E16 is next to him and E15 is closer to Harriet on the right.

Yep, really not easy to tell them apart quickly anymore. E16 is on the left here, getting fed a bite of fish by mom.

There's still some sibling rivalry, but it has gotten rarer, like it normally does at this age, and E16 has learned clever ways of avoiding conflict and sneaking bites even when E15 is the only one getting fed in a particular feeding. With the size gap narrowing, E16 has also started getting more assertive again, it seems, but has a better handle on when to be that and when to put their head down as a sign of submission.

On some occasions E16 has even dared to steal food right out of E15's mouth, like seen here at the same feeding as above. Didn't get a bonk for that, either, E15 just let them keep it.

E15 has shown sometimes what looks to me like playful behavior towards E16, and E16 has been responding to that, too. They are still competition for food to each other, and learning to deal with that will continue to be an important part of their learning survival skills, but they're each other's someone to practice social skills with, too.

Falling asleep again after the meal. E15 (top of the screen/on the left) is looking up at mom perching on the attic branch.

zzz

No, that wasn't a good spot.

There we go.

(Edited to add this little gif I made of E15 wiggling their tail the next morning, because that's one of the cutest things baby eagles do in my opinion, and I couldn't resist:)

I haven't kept as close an eye on the Trio Eagles, but their two eaglets are growing fast, too. Look at these huge floofs:

Weren't they just yesterday small enough you could barely see them over all the straw? Mom Starr is at the nest with them here, and the weather looks warm since all three are panting to cool themselves. There's certainly no way those kids can fit under their parents anymore, not even under Starr, who is a big eagle even by female eagle standards. I can't tell which one is the older and which one the younger eaglet here, but they are only a day or less apart in age.

They're a little over a month old now, and I think exactly a week older than E15. So that big, gangly, woolly stage is something we can look forward to for E15 and E16, too!