Baby bald eagle still missing
"Schleep. Schleep."
A bald eaglet calls from a tall pine tree in North Fort Myers as an eastern breeze tugs at beard-like Spanish moss draped over the limbs.
Watch Harriet's baby eagle wiggle out of its shell
From a distance the bird looks like a giant, black gargoyle, or a tiny superhero ready to spread its cape and pounce on a bad guy. Instead, this is E7, part of the latest generation from Southwest Florida's most famous pair: Harriet and M15.
Typically E7 would be joined by its sibling (no one knows the sex of the birds at this age). But the younger eaglet, E8, has rarely been seen since Saturday morning, when a great horned owl slammed into both eaglets.
Famous SWFL Eagle Cam chicks testing their wings, preparing to fledge
E7 and E8 were knocked out of the nest. The older eaglet returned later Saturday, but the smaller of the two has not been seen since.
"This has been such a tragic nest," said Kim Rexroat, who lives in Pasco County but came to North Fort Myers Monday to check on the eaglets. "It's normal for the bird (part of nature), but we see it on the Internet and it's like they're part of the family."
Kenny Howell with the Center for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife, or CROW, on Sanibel said no one has seen E8 since Sunday.
"We had volunteers out there yesterday looking for the eaglet but he took off into the woods," Howell said. "And I don't believe anyone has seen him since."
The Pritchett family started the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam in 2012 with a single camera. Now there are three cameras shooting different angles, which allows viewers to look at areas the eagles use other than the nest.
Nearly 52 million people had viewed the website as of Monday, and about 92,000 people were talking about the attack on Facebook.
Video from Saturday morning shows the eaglets resting in the pine tree and then a large bird crashing into them, with the eaglets falling and flailing their wings.
These violent attacks are natural.
"Once the talons sink through the prey’s back, most prey are killed instantly," reads a description from Adirondack Wildlife Refuge. "They quite literally may not know what hits them. The great horned owl is the 'Jack the Ripper' of the animal kingdom, waiting in silence to deliver an overpowering attack."
Great horned owls are one of the few predators capable of killing and eating a bald eaglet while the bird is in or near its nest. Although the chicks are nearly the size of their parents, this particular owl was able to knock it from the tree. While adult eagles are nearly twice the size of a great horned owl, the owls are known for taking animals two- to three-times their size.
The nest originally belonged to Ozzie and Harriet, the first eagle pair to mate and rear young online. Ozzie was usurped by M15, Harriet's current mate and likely main reason Ozzie died.
The two fought in September, and Ozzie was dead by the end of the month.
This isn't the first time E8 has been injured or gone missing, either. The eaglet became wrapped up in fishing line in February, and it spent three days under the care of CROW staff.
"We just hope if he's injured that someone will find him and call CROW or FWC (the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)," Rexroat said.
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American bald eagles
By the numbers
1,340: Bald eagle nests in Florida
9,789: Pairs nest throughout the United States
1972: Year pesticide known as DDT is banned, which allows for recovery of the species
128: Days after hatching eaglets disburse from nest
Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission