A posting a few days back mentioned that the Bald Eagles at Mud Lock were about to fledge their young. That encouraged me to arise before dawn to check on the status of the nest along the Chemung River just west of Corning. (Yes, way out of basin.) I’ve been following their progress since I first saw one of the adults on the nest on February 13. On February one was holding tight in the nest as snow swirled about.
There are now two chicks, and they are looking pretty close to adult size. I’ve seen no testing of their wings such as I expect immediately before leaving the nest. By 6:15 am, I could see on chick moving in the nest but no adults. At 6:30 am, the two adults appeared from a nearby roost with one perching near the nest and the other taking a fishing perch about 1/4 mile west. By 7 am, the closest adult which I presume is the female, began to take fishing roost along the river. (I did confirm two chicks active in the nest.) I saw the female make a pass at what looked like a muskrat in the river; it ran up the bank into cover. The other worked out of sight west along the river and returned to the nest with a small catch at 7:20 pm. It did not linger. Slow fishing day. Then about 7:35 am, the female caught a midsize carp near the Patterson Bridge and brought it to the nest where she stayed only briefly before return to the Corning side to fish. It is not possible to see in the nest itself. As I thought about the eagles’ early beginning on the nest, and how that produced the peak demand on them to provide food for two full size “chicks” in late May, I realized the fortunate coincidence in late May with the carp going into the shallows to spawn. When the carp spawning is over in early June, catching a lot of fish becomes more difficult. Still, the availability of food has increased greatly from when they first had chicks. As I note, I first found this nest last year and they had at that time two young who fledged successfully. Did not record the date. I last saw one of their juveniles on April 13 when one of the juveniles flew close to the adult as it fished over the river near the nest. I last saw the juvenile heading north (towards Watkins Glen) with the adult close on its tail and decidedly unfriendly. Hope to hear some details about other eagle nests as they begin to fledge. Paul Schmitt -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
