It’s been almost a month since I last posted about the eagle chicks. A lot’s happened in that time.

Before they can live independently, the chicks need to learn how to eat on their own. The parents have brought the chicks a rabbit to eat, but then they left. The chicks have to figure out how to get into the carcass on their own.

With those razor-sharp beaks, you wouldn’t think that would be a problem, but it seems to have stymied them here.

They must have figured it out, because when I checked in a couple of hours later, the rabbit was pretty much eaten.

And so it went…they practiced flying, and hopping and tearing into prey…

…with an occasional tug on a sibling’s tail…

…until one day, there were no chicks in the nest.†

The chicks still come back to the nest, but I assume that it is only habit that brings them back. Because the cameras only point into the nest, we can’t follow them as they master flying, hunting and living their lives. But we can know that, from eggs to now (https://amylaw.blog/2019/03/26/first-bald-eagle-chick-at-fort-st-vrain-nest/), they have had a good start in life.

And we wish them well.