A sad and freakish turn of events at the
Hornby Bald Eagles' nest today. One of the eaglets--"Echo"-- somehow became stuck to or entangled in the belly feathers of a parent, and eventually fell to its death when the parent flew off the nest.
Here is a video of the event, though be advised that it is hard to watch.
http://www.hancockwildlifechannel.org/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20090511145419821
Here are a couple of statements by prominent folks involved (see Hancock Wildlife Forum):
http://discuss.hancockwildlifechannel.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2958&start=8175
By Doug Carrick (who found the eaglet oound):"IN MEMORY OF LITTLE 'ECHO'
At 10:30 this morning I looked under
the eagle tree and found Echo lying on the ground. I picked him up. He
was soft and warm but absolutely still - no signs of life.
Just
when we realized that Echo was managing very well in dealing with his
big sister and was getting his share of the food, this totally
unexpected tragedy occurred.
We are all upset. It reminds us
how tenuous life is, especially in the wild. We will miss little Echo
but still have Hope.
----------------
By David Hancock:"What a sad day. Our followers and Doug have really said it all. The few
calls I have just had were tear laced and provoked the same in me. Sure
hard -- bloody impossible actually -- to be an un-compassionate and
objective scientist under these circumstances.
This is of course
a very unusual accident. In fact this is such an unusual twist of fate
that I have never heard of it happening just like this before. Here
where we have so many viewers, such good opportunity for observation
and analysis by replaying the archival cams, and yet no clear answers.
How
in fact did this accident occur? In the past there are examples of
adults bringing string (binder twine left in the fields kills hundreds
of raptors annually this way), small fish net pieces attached to a fish
entangle the young, and there is even suspicion of a broken egg in the
nest acting as a binder or glue to fix feathers to chicks and cause a
similar tragedy. But none of this seems to be at play here. So what is
a logical explanation?
My best guess at this point or suspicion
is that either chick excavated (pooped!) while it was under mom. This
excrement stuck her underbelly and possibly underwing covets -- a few
long trailing feathers -- together and poor Echo had the misfortune of
getting entangled in them.
Certainly the excrement can be a
strong binding agent. I have seen captive reared chicks stuck firmly to
the nest with excrement. However, to have seen her fly off with the
chick and then return safely with the chick still attached seemed a
miracle in the making. The downside was of course that the timing for
the chick or mom still did not permit the separation.
Life in
the wild is not easy and we are constantly reminded in our viewing
opportunities of this. The miracle seems more that some survive. I hope
for some heavy rains so mom gets her belly feathers cleaned.
Maybe
others examining the footage will detect something I have missed in my
quick replay and we will have a slightly more complete explanation.
Best regards
David"
