A bird in the hand

This post is two pronged.

The first sequence is of our oldest chick of the 2012 season.  For something different, I have shown here three photos per day of just a few days in early October.  With a focus on attempting to show a variety of behaviors and different times of day.

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pretending to still be a hapless chick, the eaglet still begs to be fed

evening exercises are frequent

the young eagle spends most of its days alone one the nest now

although salad greens come in less often then in earlier weeks, sanitary conditions are still vital

the morning feeding session was another delicate exchange between mum and chick

the evening session was self-serve

although mum still sleeps on the nest for protection, the eaglet is now entirely thermally independant

The second sequence is of ringing and collecting biometric data from this eaglet.  The eaglet is skeletally mature, which means when we measure the leg, we can apply the correct ring size that it will wear for the rest of its life.  Our DNA sample will confirm our prediction that it is a male. This individual will be known henceforth as 'E6', and the ring identification enables all of the local residents and birders to be part of this amazing project by sighting and submitting the details (date-time, GPS location, ring code, and hopefully photos) of each birds whereabouts. Either to me [shane.mcpherson@gmail.com] during the course of the research, or to the ADU in future years.

All birds of all species with identification marks are collated on a database that covers Southern Africa, and communicated with other regional and country ringing programs.  Re-sightings and ring recoveries need to be submitted.  To report SAFRING, colour ring combination, or colour rings with alpha-numeric codes please complete the online form.

Photo credits to Mark Brown, sadly, not represented in a photo here.  Hopefully the journalists that were present will have a photo in their article!  While it is heavily overcast, the photos are a little blurred in the dark forest floor, and the bird is damp, we were fortunate to have achieved all that needed to be done in a perfectly timed break in the weather.  The nest camera will continue to provide invaluable information on diet, as well as how the bird, and its parents, respond to the new jewelry.

starting the first climb at 07.34am to service the camera and collect the eaglet

hauling the precious cargo back to the nest

E6 safely back in the nest at 08.36 am