From RRP's FB page:
Raptor Resource Project
17h
What happened to HD's foot? On February 3, several sharp-eyed volunteers and fans noticed that one of his toes appeared to be injured. We talked with Dr. Laura Johnson and Master Bander Dave Kester about the injury.
It isn't easy to diagnose a condition based on photos, but Laura told us that it looks like an injury (possibly a constriction or bite) caused by a loss of blood supply to HD's toe and nailbed. We first noticed the injury after he came into the nest with a squirrel. As cute as they look to us, squirrels are notorious for being fast, hard biters - potentially risky prey even for an experienced raptor like HD. We haven't seen any string or twine on HD's toes or in the nest.
We're not sure what will happen next. HD's talon might fall off. Whether it regrows has everything to do with how much damage there is to the germinal cells from which the talon emerges. But there is no evidence of swelling in the rest of the toe proximal to the injury and the rest of the foot looks good. Laura thought we could be cautiously optimistimc that the incident won't have a significant impact on him; Dave told us that his first hawk had similar damage to her hallux claw. Smackers did not lose her talon and eventually the scab broke off to reveal beautiful new skin beneath. We're crossing our talons for the best possible outcome.
We're also watching HD very closely. At this point, he appears to be healthy and is still eating, bringing materials into the nest, and helping to get everything ready for eggs. While we haven't seen a successful copulation yet - like DM2, HD seems a little shy - his eagle-tect instincts are on point! Both eagles seem to be shifting their focus from sticks to soft materials as they move into the final stages of nest bowl prep and egg cup construction.
We'll keep everyone posted. Thanks to our camera operators and the eagle council for keeping us on top of everything.
Raptor Resource Project
1h
Love is in the nest! HD and HM copulated on N1 this morning! At just a little bit before 7:00AM, HM dropped into the nest and made it very clear she was feeling amorous - look at her swishing tail and looming position, and listen to her voice. I’m not an eagle, but even I know she’s interested! After a little beaking, he gets on top. I’m not really sure how to describe what happens next. I feel uncomfortable using human terms, but it’s hard not to think of terms like ‘afterglow’. I’ve seen a whole lot of eagle copulation in our years documenting eagle life and this is the first time I would use the word ‘cute’ to describe it. We're very hopeful for fertile eggs and we'll be watching HM for signs of gravidity, aka 'eggnancy'.
Why do some male eagles seem timid? Why do some couples bond more often than others? How do eagles bond? Learn more here:
https://www.raptorresource.org/.../courtship-copulation.../ and watch the whole video here:
https://youtu.be/jRw41COtL6w or here:
https://youtu.be/BUK06W6zZDs.
