Mlög: Distant and close views of feisty eaglets

Screenshots of the SWFL Bald eagles. Post includes views of prey, and some sibling rivalry.

Harriet warming the eaglets on a rainy morning. She can't shield them from the rain much anymore, they're too big to fit under her, but their new feathers protect their down from getting too soaked.
E20 at the front, peeking out from under mom.

E20, E19. Huddling together.

Harriet brings a small UFO (unidentified food object), and E20 is quick to grab and mantle it. E19 tries a steal, but E20 guards the food well. It's too big to swallow in one go, though, and E20 has trouble getting bites out of it quickly, so Harriet takes it back. She tears it in four pieces, E19 gets one and E20 the rest.

M15 brings a roadkill opossum to the nest. E19 (left) and E20 both get fed.

E19 tugging at the opossum's tail. E20 watches.

Harriet drops down to the nest to participate in the feeding, and also to eat some herself. On the left Harriet and E19 having a tug war over a piece, on the right M15 with the main part of the opossum, feeding E20.

E20 gets impatient, too, and tries to steal the whole opossum from dad.

E20 notices mom also has some food, and another tug war ensues.

Harriet takes over the feeding. E19 on the left, E20 on the right quickly stealing a bite that was going to E19.

E19, E20.

And a zoom in on E20. Big crop!

E20 resting, E19 watching over the nest rails standing up.

More E20 zooming.

E19 still warns E20 away when she wants to eat first, and E20 submits and waits. Yes, I think we do have a girl for an older eaglet this year, with how fierce she is, considering neither eaglet is going hungry. Good for her - that fierceness will help her survive her difficult juvenile years and defend her nest when she has one. I can't imagine Harriet was any mellower as an eaglet, and her aggressiveness has served her well, with her having made it to her twenties and had many successful clutches.

E20, too, can be fierce when there's something he wants. Another tug war with mom over food! E20 lost this one, but it was good practice, and Harriet seemed to let E20 grab the food many times and do his best to pull it away from her. Still not very strong, but tenacious.

Then some pretty E19 closeups in golden sunset light.

Wing practice!

E20's face. :D

E19, E20, resting at the end of the day.

Beautiful closeups the next morning. E20 left, E19 right.

Tracking together activity around the nest.

E19 preening, zipping up her new feathers.

View from camera 2. E19 left, and E20 right doing a cropdrop (moving food from crop to stomach, tends to look like yawns or big swallows).

Cropdrop for E19, too.

Hello, E20!

Harriet at the attic branch, E19 (head higher) and E20 resting at the nest rails.

E20 has a wing around E19.

E19 wing flapping practice. Such big wings you have already!

Camera 2 view of the wingers. E19 did a little hop in the first of these two screenshots.

Dad M15 feeding the eaglets. E19 warns E20 away and gets fed first. E20 has eaten today already, but more wouldn't hurt. Bonks would, though.

E20 goes around to dad's other side, and does get fed and not bonked!
Clever boy!

There was also a feeding later where E20 got all the food and E19 just snoozed, with E20 getting fed by both mom and dad, but I missed taking screenshots of it. Instead, I have more closeups. These are E19's growing tail feathers.