Tag Archives: Development

Eaglet Growth and Development: Week Four

April 19, 2024: DN17 and DN18

We’re writing a series of blogs about the first few weeks of an eaglet’s life. An eaglet spends roughly 75 to 80 days in the nest. For about the first half, it grows and gains weight. For about the second half, it grows flight feathers and starts developing the skills it will need post-fledge. We will focus on week four in this blog. During week three (fourteen to twenty-one days), the dynamic duo shed most of their natal down, gained

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Second-Week Milestones: An Illustrated Book!

April 6, 2024: Day 12 and 13

(More than) an eaglet a day: an illustrated book of DN17 and DN18’s second week of life! Click through the photos to see and read about their milestones and behaviors. Thanks to our camera operators, our moderators, and STLbf on our forum for photos, information, and text! April 4, 2024: Grey thermal down tracts are peeking out between feathery white natal tufts, the eaglets are more alert and aware of their surroundings, and they have enough strength, balance, and coordination

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Eaglet Growth and Development: Week Three

April 6, 2024: Sleeping - and dreaming! are part of eaglet growth and development.

We’re writing a series of blogs about the first few weeks of an eaglet’s life. An eaglet spends roughly 75 to 80 days in the nest. For about the first half, it grows and gains weight. For about the second half, it grows flight feathers and starts developing the skills it will need post-fledge. We will focus on week three in this blog. DN17 and DN18 turned 15 and 14 days old today. During week two (seven to 14 days),

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Eaglet Growth and Development: Week One

March 27, 2024: An Eagletude fit for royalty! DN17 and DN18 turned three and two days old today.

We’re writing a series of blogs about the first few weeks of an eaglet’s life. An eaglet spends roughly 75 to 80 days in the nest. For about the first half, it grows and gains weight. For about the second half, it grows flight feathers and starts developing the skills it will need post-fledge. We will focus on week one in this blog. What can we expect in the first week following hatch? Like humans, a growing eaglet has developmental

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When will DH2 fledge?

June 12, 2023: DH2 wingercizes and hops!

When will DH2 fledge? Our little eaglet will turn 67 days old this afternoon and has been learning its wings and building its strength as it wingercizes, jumps, bounces, and generally trampolines around the nest. While we don’t have an exact date of departure, we do know that: Male eaglets develop more quickly and tend to fledge earlier than their female siblings, although there is some overlap. In ‘The Bald Eagle’, Mark Stalmaster states that ‘…a single fledgling will fledge

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Eaglet Growth and Development: Week Four

April 28, 2023: DH2

We’re writing a series of blogs about the first few weeks of an eaglet’s life. An eaglet spends roughly 75 to 80 days in the nest. For about the first half, it grows and gains weight. For about the second half, it grows flight feathers and starts developing the skills it will need post-fledge. We will focus on week four in this blog. During week three (fourteen to twenty-one days), DH2 shed most of its natal down, gained a lot

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March 15, 2023: ID’ing eagles at a bald eagle-palooza on the Mississippi River Flyway!

March 13, 2023: First year eagle on the Mississippi Flyway

It’s a bald eagle-palooza on the Mississippi Flyway! While bald eagles are well-equipped to deal with snow and cold, they can’t fish when the water is covered with a thick layer of ice. These eagles – and many other species – are following the ice line north. As soon as the ice opens up, breeding adults will swiftly wing their way back to their territories. Non-breeders, especially immature juvenile and subadult birds, will probably follow a little later. They don’t

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Peek inside a bald eagle egg: 4 days!

An embryonic bird in very early stages of development. It has a top, bottom, front, back, left and right sides, and layers.

As of this writing, we’re still waiting for eggs at Fort St. Vrain. The first Decorah North egg is seven days old and the second is four days old. What do embryonic eagles look like as they grow and develop inside their eggs? Dr. Peter Sharpe from the Institute for Wildlife Studies developed a table of bald eagle embryonic development based on work done by Hamburger and Hamilton (1951). While not all bald eagle eggs hatch in 35 days, the

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Learning Eagle Table Manners

May 10, 2022: Learning Eaglet Table Manners

We were asked about eaglet growth and development during our explore.org Bird Week chat yesterday. Bald eagles spend about the first half of nest life – say, 35 to 40 days – gaining weight, growing limbs and feet, and growing and replacing feathers. In stage two – about 40 to 75 or 80 days – they begin preparing for life beyond the nest by building muscle, exploring their new wings, learning to unzip prey and feed themselves, and practicing their

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