Food grabs and growth continue

More screenshots of the SWFL Bald eagles. Warning for views of prey later in the post, but let's start with these adorable closeups of the eaglets:

E19.

E20.

Watching mom Harriet perching above them.

Both preening themselves. E20 front/lower.

E20 sitting up.

E20, E19.

E20, E19. Both moving nest material around with their beaks.

E19 has a wing stretched over E20.

E19,

And E20. Dad M15 arrived at the nest with a roadkill squirrel soon after this screenshot.

E19 made sure to get fed first, and E20 waited in the margins for a while.

But started getting bites when E19 started being full. E20 is getting very good at the quick snatch-and-grabs, and is getting the hang of staying at a safe distance from E19's beak during mealtimes while still getting to where the food is being handed out, but M15 also takes care to offer the food in the smaller eaglet's direction, too.

By the end of the feeding what's left is the squirrel's tail, and a big, stringy piece of what I think is mostly pelt, with the meat on it hard to pull off of it. M manages to still feed E20 a couple of bites of the pelt piece after this screenshot, then tears it in half.

E20 happily grabs the half M is holding and swallows it down.

M holds out the other half, too, and E20 takes it.

While E20 works on gobbling down the pelt, M picks up the tail and offers it to E19, who is not interested.

Give it here!

E20 (right) gave the tail a few tries (here it's hanging partway out of the eaglet's mouth), but I'm not sure whether they got it down. It's a pretty difficult piece for a 3-week-old eaglet to eat. Good effort in any case!

E20 closeups.

Later Harriet feeding fish to both eaglets. E20 is eating in this screenshot, and later got the fish's tail, too. This time I'm sure it got successfully swallowed. The eaglets got another fish for supper, with both getting to eat.

 

Sibling rivalry has been continuing, and the aggression from E19 towards E20 can get pretty rough, so that's something to be aware of when viewing the stream. While not the most pleasant to see, and while there is a possibility of causing injury, too, the older eaglet asserting dominance through violence is normal. In addition to the storm the other day, feedings had been delayed to the afternoon for a few days before that, and hunger escalates the sibling rivalry. Eaglets usually grow out of this one-sided aggression at about four weeks old, but for now it's a way for the older eaglet to ensure its own survival in case there isn't enough food for both, since the eaglets are too young to self-feed, and of course can't leave the nest to get their own food, being completely dependent on their parents keeping them fed. It's up to the younger to then find ways to get to the food without openly challenging the older sibling. E20 is doing well, all things considered, but an eagle's life is not easy even as a baby.

Both eaglets had a good-sized crop by bedtime.