Going, going……

Gone! Empty nest on Volco Rd - 3-22-26

Our eagles are growing up! We knew it would not be long before our Volco eaglet pair took to the skies, and as expected, today the nest was empty. Our birding'/photog friend Maggie has relayed to me that she saw one of our chicks take flight on the 19th, flying across the road to a nearby tree. I’m sure the bird’s sibling was not far behind. We hung around today for a while to see if any of the adults or eaglets would return to the nest, but it remained vacant. We’ll check back again in a day or so to make sure that they have indeed left home. The two chicks will remain under the care of the adults for up to a month as they learn their way around adulthood, so we hope to still catch sight of them in the neighborhood.

Lone adult Bald eagle (upper left) over nest on Landis Street in NSB - 3/22/26

We haven’t given up hope for our lonely bird on Landis Street in NSB. Earlier today, we drove by to see if there had been any developments at that nest. Once again, a lone adult eagle was perched above an empty nest. We surmise that this is an eagle which has unfortunately lost its mate and has been hanging around this real estate in the hopes that another lonely bird might drift by. Sadly, it looks like the advent of spring has not been kind to this eagle and he or she will have to bide its time.

As we head south into MINWR, the picture is quite a bit rosier. The nest opposite Weather Tower Rd (we call it the WSEG nest) on Kennedy Parkway leading into the refuge is abuzz with activity the morning. As if trying to make up for the failure of the Landis nest, the eagles here have overachieved and there are THREE eaglets on site.

Three eaglet on the nest on Kennedy Pkwy - MINWR - 3/22/26

The normal brood for a pair of eagles is two. Mother Nature generally provides an adult pair of breeding eagles with no more than they can handle. Two’s company, but three’s a crowd as the saying goes. Often, if three offspring do emerge from the eggs, the first two to hatch will be bigger and stronger than the “runt of the litter” and will sadly outcompete the littlest one for the food provided by mom and dad…..”It’s Nature’s way” as Steve Irwin used to say. Here, however, all three have made it and although a bit behind the Volco Rd birds, they appear to be thriving and indeed getting ready to leave the nest as well. With apologies for the quality of the pix here (no way to get the sun at my back), you can see the three waiting for a mid-morning snack from a parent.

Adult returns with food - WSEG nest - 3/22/26

Soon an adult did indeed return to the nest with a fish and all three heads disappeared into the bottom of the nest to grab their share of nourishment. The adult soon departed as the young were gorging themselves and before long, one of the youngsters reappeared and began exercising those huge wings. The wingspan of a juvenile eagle can reach 7 feet here in Florida, so it takes some practice and conditioning to get ready for first flight!

Young eagle stretches its wings over the WSEG nest - 33/22/26

Next stop will be Bairs Cove Road just past the Haulover Canal Bridge in Merritt Island NWR. We’ve been watching the development of a Great Horned Owl family here over the past three weeks, and things are progressing nicely. Today, we found the two chicks perched above the nest with no sign of an adult.

Great Horned Owl chicks - Bairs Cove Rd - 3/22/26

The chicks are certainly growing up quickly and require a good amount of food. According to a blurb in Wikipedia, a family of owls with two offspring like ours would require about a half dozen to dozen mice every day. Sure enough, after a short time watching these little owlets, a parent came in with the morning meal. When still in the nest, the male owl will bring in prey to the female who tears it apart into manageable pieces and feeds the chicks. As they become older and can leave the nest, they continue to be fed by the adults. It will still be up to a month before these owls can take flight, and even then they will be fed and cared for by the parents for up to several months.

An adult returns to care for her young - 3/22/26

While watching and photographing the owl family, our attention was drawn to the launch and flight of a Falcon 9 rocket behind us. We are at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge with was created as a buffer zone around Cape Canaveral Space Center where launches of rockets into space are a regular occurrence. Today’s launch is bringing another batch of the “Starlink’ communication satellites into orbit. Never a dull moment here on the Space Coast.

Falcon 9 Rocket blasts off into space - 3/22/26

Our final stop today will be to check on the eagle nest on Ranken Drive in Edgewater. Late last week when I checked here, a young eagle was perched on a limb next to the nest in a driving rain storm. He looked absolutely drenched and was in no mood to fly or be “branching”. Today, however, as was the case of the Volco nest, the nest is absent and there was no activity evident. Going, Going, Gone! The eagles here in Volusia County have had a good winter and are well on their way to a successful spring and summer.

Tech Tip - I’ve talked previously about the use of “frames” to make composition of nature photographs a bit more aesthetically pleasing. Occasionally, the frame is “just there” and you simply have to move around a bit until you can take advantage of what’s presented to you. The Frame in the shot of the owls is pretty obvious. Don’t overlook the obvious when composing shots.