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From: dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: training young eagles
Message-ID: <1991Feb27.212759.5696@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>
Date: 27 Feb 91 21:27:59 GMT
References: <1991Feb26.224723.25778@newsserver.sfu.ca>
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Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
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In article <1991Feb26.224723.25778@newsserver.sfu.ca> palmer@whistler.sfu.ca (Leigh Hunt Palmer) writes:

(a description of an immature and an adult in December).

There's a few possibilities.  It is unlikely that they would have been
parent-and-offspring that late in the year.  If anything, they were
a mated pair.  Bald eagles do not develop their adult plumage until
their 5th year, and they are capable of breeding while still younger
than that.  It is also possible that the two were unrelated.  
Territorial boundaries break down in the winter months.  It is not
uncommon in such places as Alaska and Washington to see a dozen or
more bald eagles all perched in the same tree.

>1. Was this, as I surmised, a training exercise which simply did 
>not achieve its goal? Do adults train their young in that manner?

The young aren't really "trained" in this fashion.  The instinct to
fly is inbred; however, they must watch their parents to learn the
subtleties of hunting and eagle-behavior.  The parents will continue
to care for the young for several weeks after fledging, until the
young can fend for themselves.

>2. Eagles are not obviously sexually dimorphic, except, perhaps, 
>for size. Which parent(s) usually take the responsibility for 
>training the young?

It is a shared responsibility once the eaglet fledges.  Prior to
that, the female does most of the caring.


-- 
Sam Conway                             * "And if you give us any more
dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu           * trouble I shall visit you in the
Chemistry Dept., Dartmouth College, NH * small hours and put a bat up your
Vermont Raptor Center (VINS)           * nightdress!"  -- Basil Fawlty