Young eagles fly the coop

Posted 8/21/12

It’s July, and this is the time when young birds of all types are reaching the point where they are leaving their nests and learning to fend for themselves. Among the myriad of species of young …

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Young eagles fly the coop

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It’s July, and this is the time when young birds of all types are reaching the point where they are leaving their nests and learning to fend for themselves. Among the myriad of species of young birds that are leaving their nests is the bald eagle.

With the bald eagle nests in this region, a good phrase to help you remember the phenology, or timing of events in the average nest, is, “Incubating by Tax Day (April 15), Fledged by 4th of July.” This year’s observations have shown a slight delay in the incubation start date of many nests compared to past records. The delay is about two weeks in some territories. It is possible that the very cold winter and early spring played a factor. Not all nests started late; there were a couple of nests that started early and fledged young by mid-June.

Many of the late starter nests now have 11- to 12-week-old young that are ready for a mid-July fledge. The young may pick unusual landing spots, or otherwise get into an awkward predicament on their first flights. If you see one of these young, observe, but keep your distance; their parents are keeping a watchful eye from somewhere nearby and the young usually get themselves out of trouble. This week’s column has a small timeline of images from one of the nearly 20 nests along the Upper Delaware River.

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