This is an adult eagle along the main stem of the Delaware River; This may be one of at least 40 breeding adults along the upper Delaware corridor, or perhaps another nearby waterway in NY or PA. This was a winter picture, so it could also be one of many Canadian winter migrants that take advantage of ice free waterways to forage.
RR photo by Scott Rando
These 2 eagles are likely a mated pair that were flying a courtship ritual. This pair rolled close to each other but did not lock talons and spiral down, and unlocking at the last moment hitting the ground. Contrary to popular belief, eagles do not mate in the air during this ritual; they mate as most birds do, while perched.
RR photo by Scott Rando
This is a 5-day old eaglet being fed by one of the adults. This is one of 2 young in this nest. This eaglet still has its white primary down and cannot stay warm on its own, so it spends a lot of time under an adult when not being fed...
RR photo by Scott Rando
This eaglet is about 3 weeks old and has its gray secondary coat of down feathers. These feathers are thicker than primary down feathers which helps the eaglet stay worm during cooler days. A few tiny pin feathers are already pushing through the down, and the shafts of flight feathers are visible on the trailing edge of the wings. ..
RR photo by Scott Rando
At 6 weeks, these young are almost as large of the adults. They are mostly covered by contour feathers, except for the belly. The next couple of weeks will see a lot of feather development, especially the flight feathers...
RR photo by Scott Rando
This trio is perhaps 10-11 weeks old, and not too far from fledging. They are confident on “branching out” or going out on the end of branches, and exercising their wings there. After fledging (and honing their landing skills). They will make brief return visits to the nest, especially when an adult flies over where different young are perched with food that will be dropped in the nest.
RR photo by Scott Rando
..This is one of the fledglings from the trio branching out on the tree, about 3 weeks later. It decided to rest along the Delaware River, but it landed in the territory of a pair of red-winged blackbirds. The male is visible in the frame harassing, or “mobbing” the fledgling eagle, trying to get it to fly away.
RR photo by Scott Rando
After 4-5 years, eagles become adults and will seek a mate and a territory. Immediately before this, they are considered subadults and have plumage with light streaks in the brown or dark streaks in the white. This subadult shows just a hint of dark streaking on the head and the end of the tail as well as light speckling on the back. Subadults are frequently seen as part of breeding pairs...
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