Week Seven 5/9 to 5/15 The eaglets are 6 weeks.

The eaglets have been moving rather expertly around the nest for awhile. They are picking up sticks and moving them here and there. They will beak each other. They are beginning to wingersize and use their wings to hop about the nest.

I am beginning to notice that the eaglets are self feeding more. They will take a large piece of food and feed off of it or they will find nestovers, get it under their feet and pull with their beak to get the meat.

For the first time I noticed Scout take a morsel of food and mantle over it to keep Glory from having any of it.

They are growing. Mom is still on the nest at night.

Week Eight 5/16 to 5/22

They are both looking like juveniles now. Their beautiful dark brown feathers have transformed them.

They are carrying sticks from one part of the nest to another. Sometimes they just rearrange them along the fence.

There was a thunderstorm this week and they were quite alarmed. Mom returned to the nest and they calmed. They were hopping all about the nest before they went to center nest and were flatlets. I did not notice lightning so the loud thunder must have alarmed them.

I believe that juveniles were alone on the nest all night on May 20th.

Week Nine 5/23 to 5/29

The juveniles are spending more time perched on the fence. The parent continues to feed them and they self feed as well. They are alone on the nest at night.

Mom has begun to visit the nest more often. She will wonder about the nest and then fly up to the branch over 5. She has been doing this for several days. I like to think she is showing Scout and Glory how to branch.

I have not seen either juvenile mantle food since the first time.

Both are exercising their wings and moving about the nest quite expertly with big wing hops.

Week Ten 5/30 to 6/5

There is a blind spot at 3 where it is hard to see the juvies. They were both there but one was way out on the rim of the nest. I can not tell if there is a branch there. But if there is Scout branched on the 31st. They both have spent a fair amount of time at 3 and I do believe Scout spent that time branching or perched on the very rim of the nest.

They went 2 days without food. The waterways are running high and are very muddy. Fishing may be difficult and the little critters may be hard to find with the rainy days. Then they were fed several good meals. Scout mantled food again on the 30th and later shared the furry critter.

The juvies are achieving some lift off as they big wing hop about the nest. They have grown BIG.

Week Eleven 6/6 to 6/12

Scout mantles the food that is dropped at the nest very consistently. Glory has become adept at snatching some after several attempts. However by the end of this week Scout is not as willing to share and several big wing squabbles occur. Glory does manage to get some food but only by going after it.

Scout is now branching over 7 and 5 on 6/11. She just lifts off and lands so gracefully. She spends considerable time on the nest yet.

Mom spent the night on the nest on the 9th.

The parents are dropping food rather than trying to feed the juvies. They rush the parent for food and the parents wisely depart.

Week Twelve 6/13 to 6/19

The juvenile eagles are now in and out of the nest. They return quickly from the branches in the tree when a food drop is made. Mom drops food and departs as the hungry, aggressive juvies rush to the food.

6/15 Glory branches.

Scout fledges on the 16th. Jannicemull saw her fly off the nest. Scout does not sleep on the nest that night.

On the 18th Glory fledges. The nest is now empty much of the day. Mom will try to entice them back to the nest with food. On this day only Glory returns to feed. But mom visits the nest with food twice before Glory returns. Mom actually feeds Glory rather than dropping the food off.

The juvies keep returning to the nest and one or the other may sleep on the nest until the end of July. After that I have not seen the eagles visit the nest at all. Mom and Dad St Vrain were nestorating in October in 2010.







Scout and Glory soar high and fly free in the Rocky Mountain skies!

Congratulations Donna on a successful season here.. your summary is excellent ... that was a lot of work... it took time and dedication... loved seeing all the pictures again of this lovely family... you did a wonderful job reporting here all season.. look forward to visiting here next season...

Bev....

What a marvelous summary, Donna! I love how you're catching so many "firsts" for the eaglets - I always wonder when they start looking for food in the nest, and when they get organized enough to hold the food down while they break off a piece and things like that - and you've got it all!

I've set up the new thread for this nest so it will be ready when the cam and the eagles return - the link to the thread for the 2012 nesting season is forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=269882.