We concentrate on geese for a few days and DN15 and DN16 turn into tweagles: tween-age eaglets! Their weight gain is slowing, their mid-toes, foot pads, and tarsus are close to or at their adult size, and their juvenile feathers are unfurling and growing! DN15 and DN16’s wing chords and central retrixes (the central pair of tail feathers) will more than double in length over the next 40 days as they get ready for life beyond the nest. The next few weeks should provide plenty of wingertainment as the tree-riffic twosome build on their standing, walking, and wingercizing skills!
It’s very rare for us to declare an official sex without capturing and measuring the eaglets, but here are a few clues for anyone who wants to guess.
- Females are bigger than males, although that difference isn’t always clear.
- Males often develop a little more quickly than their sisters, so feather growth can provide a clue. But remember to take their age difference into account and don’t compare today’s DN15 with today’s DN16!
- Females also have bigger footpads and hallux claws than their male counterparts by around 40 days of age: something else to compare if you can get the two to line up side by side!
Thanks so much for watching, sharing, learning, and especially for caring! We’ll get a mega-Raptor roll out for everyone tomorrow. Wondering about the goslings? Our camera operators confirmed at least three of them today: https://youtu.be/s-f8ikzLYZQ.
The Raptor Resource Project