Very big! It's been a while since I've kept a close eye on the SouthWest Florida Bald Eagle nestcam, though I've checked in on them occasionally to stay updated, and the chicks E21 (on the right in the above screenshot) and E22 have grown into 9- and 8-week-olds (respectively; they have a three-day age difference) that can be expected to start branching any day now.
A lot has also happened in the meantime. One of the biggest news is undoubtedly that the mother eagle Harriet has been missing since early February. At this point it's unlikely she'll return, and the cause is probably that something unfortunate has happened to her. Despite searches, she hasn't been found, injured or otherwise. I've been following this nest for years now, and Harriet and her family have been among my favorite raptors to observe. She was both a fierce defender of her young and territory, and quite the character to watch interacting with her mate and chicks, and her 20-something is a very respectable age for a wild eagle to have reached. I'll miss her, and I'm sure I'm not the only one among nestcam watchers who will.Her mate M15 has been taking good care of their last shared offspring even as a single father, and has kept them fed and safe while fending off intruders to the territory. By now one of the intruders, a large female that for now is referred to as R23-3 (rogue eagle number 3 in year 2023), seems to have started making herself at home. M has been tolerating her sleeping in the nest tree roosted next to him, she has been playing nice with the eaglets, and there have even been some early courtship gestures seen, so we may have a new lady of the nest for the next season. First M has his current clutch to raise to fledging and to being ready for independence, though.
E21 looking around.
E22 with something to say.
E22.
2 comments:
I can see a lot of the inspiration/ideas from the JP/W Raptor AU pack's behaviour come from here. Which makes sense, Eagles are also raptors after all.
Shame the mother eagle disappeared, poor girl. Reminds me of what happened to Swiftdive in LQoT (That made me cry).
Birds are really interesting, both in general and as the last extant Theropod Dinosaurs. I remember watching an Indian Myna with a hurt leg walking around outside a shop I was sitting in whilst waiting for lunch.
I do take a lot of inspiration from watching avian raptors, though their behavior also has many differences from JP/W Velociraptors especially in the social sense. Most avian raptors only tolerate a mate and dependent offspring around. But many of their other quirks still fit well into the lives of big prehistoric groundhawks, I think.
There's probably a bit of Harriet in particular in my portrayal of some of the female raptor AU characters.
Post a Comment