Expert thirdwheeling

 At 193 days old, guess who's still hanging out at the nest at SWFL eagle cam?

Hello, E15.

And good morning to M15 (closer to camera) and Harriet. E15 was joining in on the vocalizations from the nest here, though is not in frame. She probably wanted breakfast. The adults, it seems, had other plans.

Tfw you stay at your natal nest for so long past the nesting season that produced you that you just had to witness your parents mating, lol. I doubt E15 cares, though, except about that breakfast.

Later after a snack, E15's squees are accompanied by a chorus of small birds on the branches of the nest tree.

She's perfectly capable of looking after herself at this point and has been for a while now, so she's not really dependent on her parents and could leave whenever she feels like it. She's just a clever girl who noticed dad is going to keep feeding her for as long as she's in the area, because that's what's instinctual to Bald Eagle dads no matter how big their baby already is. So far mom has been tolerating her and bringing her food, too, and it looks like both parents protected her from an intruder one night. She's still their eaglet.

By the time new eggs are starting to be imminent (the mating this morning is unlikely to produce any, and was for the purpose of strengthening their pair bond - Harriet usually lays her eggs in November - but looks like the courtship phase has begun so there's surely going to be more of that), if she hasn't left by then, I assume Harriet is going to chase her away. So far she and M haven't had to do that to any of their eaglets, but E15 likes to be different, it seems.

Well, she's had plenty of extra time to practice her flying and prey stealing, and it's not out of the question she might have caught something on her own at some point off-camera, too. Juvenile Bald Eagles are mostly scavengers and thieves, and hunting and fishing takes a long time to learn, but I think I recall E7 caught a bird before leaving, so who knows. Eagles know best what an eagle needs to be doing, and we'll just have to wait and see.