A baby eagle flies - Skywatch Friday

Sitting with one of the parents on the tree.

The baby eagle stars flapping it's wings. I think nothing of it since they've been doing this all along.




Flapping hard. The baby eagles thinks "I know I can make it."

And he's off!

Teetering on a close by snag, the baby makes a good landing.

"I'm king of the jungle!"

Sibling still sits on the nest. He (or she) is not quite ready to fly.

This was not the baby's first flight. I got to the cemetery two Sunday's ago and had hear the baby took it's first flight the day before. So it's either the 2nd or 3rd flight. I'll take that. I got there late in the afternoon not expecting much. I figured I'd find the family sleeping on the tree. I was only there a few minutes with a couple of other photographers when one of the babies kept flapping his wings while sitting on the nest. Then he took off. He didn't fly very far. Only about 5 trees over to a dead snag that the parents had been hanging out on for a while. I have spent so much time watching the babies just sit on the nest that it surprised me to see him take off. I was able to only get one good fly shot before he landed. He sat on the snag forever. The sibling didn't fly while I was there. I finally had to leave. I'm sad to say I probably won't make it back to the cemetery before they leave for good. I hope they all make it back next winter.

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Sad eagle news in Pinellas county. But all is not lost.

Eagle followers in Pinellas county received bad news earlier this week. The baby eaglet from Tierre Verde, just outside of Fort Desoto Park, died on Monday. It had been flying for several weeks now. Florida Fish and Wildlife have taken the eaglet and will perform test to see if they can determine what happened. I've always read 40% of baby eagles don't survive but it's still so sad. Someone from the St. Petersburg Audubon posted on facebook that out of the 48 baby eagles that were born in Pinellas county this spring, this is the 2nd one that has died. I didn't hear what happened to the first one. I guess the county is beating the statistics so far. Here is my post of the pictures I had taken when the baby was still on the nest - Fort Desoto eagle post.

Below are pictures of the baby eagles at the St. Petersburg cemetery taken a few weeks ago. Both babies are just starting to flap their wings. By now they are probably flying from tree to tree. We're all holding our breath these eagles make it.

Bald eagle family at the cemetery - Skywatch Friday

One of the parents in the tree.

Baby looking around.

Stretching it's wings.

One of the babies.

Trying to scratch.

Recently I stopped by the cemetery in St. Petersburg on my way home from a day at the beach to check on the baby eagles.. It was way too sunny out to be taking pictures in the middle of the afternoon but hey, I was in neighborhood and couldn't pass up a peek at how the babies are doing. So, most of these pictures were taken right into the sun since the baby was facing that way. Baby eagles take their first flight between the ages of 10 and 13 weeks.  Approximately 40% of young eagles do not survive their first flight. I guess they crash into something or don't make it back to the nest.  After their first flight, they will spend 4 to 5 more weeks taking short flights around the nest before they are gone for good. The babies won't get that white head until they are around 5 years old. I'm not sure when these babies were born. Maybe mid to late January so they should be flying by now.  Hopefully, I can catch them again before they are gone for good.

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