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From: palmer@whistler.sfu.ca (Leigh Hunt Palmer)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: training young eagles
Message-ID: <1991Feb26.224723.25778@newsserver.sfu.ca>
Date: 26 Feb 91 22:47:23 GMT
Sender: news@newsserver.sfu.ca (News System Owner)
Organization: Simon Fraser University
Lines: 19

In mid December I observed two bald eagles (one of them obviously 
immature, but looking somehow larger than the adult) perched in 
separate trees next to Deer Lake here in Burnaby, B. C. They came 
to the lake at about the same time, and I take them to be parent 
and offspring nesting on the adjacent lake. Both sat on their 
perches, changing trees only infrequently. I watched them for 
about a half hour, hoping to see fishing activity, which is 
common here on nice mornings. The two finally flew off without 
any more than a couple of recon flights along the lake by the 
adult, and no attempts. I did not get another chance to see the 
birds as the lake froze over solid two days later and remained 
that way until early this month. I have two questions:
 
1. Was this, as I surmised, a training exercise which simply did 
not achieve its goal? Do adults train their young in that manner?
 
2. Eagles are not obviously sexually dimorphic, except, perhaps, 
for size. Which parent(s) usually take the responsibility for 
training the young?