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Started watching around 5:30 p.m. Adult in nest standing on large prey with hawklet to left side. Adult feeding, tucking head down and slightly under. Eats for a few minutes...burns a lot of energy to catch and carry prey that looks fairly large. Can't see hawklet too well, staying close to adult and watching. I can't tell if it is eating on its own or not. Finally, hawklet moves behind adult and up between adults legs. Adult starts passing bites through legs to hawklet. Then adult turns and faces camera, a much better view of the ensuing feast. Prey looks like squirrel. Adult continues to pull pieces and offer to hawklet, who eagerly snatches them.

At one point it looks like the adult offers the long tail bone with a remnant of gray fur. It could have been cartilage? the hawklet takes it on, and I worry it will choke or get stuck or something. I don't see what finally happens to the piece. I can't imagine the hawklet was able to swallow it. I know owls regurgitate owl pellets and other birds of prey do also, but wow! That seems like a lot of fur and bone.

Then the adult gets around to pulling on some more "meaty" pieces, ligaments and things, and I feel a little relieved to not have to watch the little hawklet curve it's neck and stretch it's *** as if it has something caught in it's crop. Then the camera panned away. Whew, that was amazing to see!

Chinook,

You should post on the Observation Thread because your observations are so good.  When this is all said and done if they decide to share the observations made as the eyas grows up they may miss all your good observations because it is not on that thread.  Just click the Observation Thread and hit post reply.  Good stuff.

 

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'Security—does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.' Helen Keller