FORT MYERS, Fla. — As the days go by, the Southwest Florida eaglets are reaching milestones that are bringing them closer to fully spreading their wings and leaving the nest.
On Friday, E21 was caught on the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam officially branching to the nearby spike at 10 weeks old. And according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, eaglets make their first unsteady flights about 10 to 12 weeks after hatching.
"So much strength & beauty in that wingspan!" leaders behind the cam said in a tweet.
Once the eaglets get comfortable with flying, they will reportedly ledge, or leave their nests, within a few days after that first flight.
While the eaglets seem to be thriving, papa bird M15 seems to be struggling a bit.
It's almost been two months since his partner in crime Harriet went missing, leaving him alone to tend to their two babies as a single parent. Throughout the past couple of weeks, there have been many intruders – some being possible love interests – while others seem to be out for some blood.
On Monday night leading into early Tuesday morning, an owl returned two times to knock M15 off his talons.
The first attack happened at 11:57 p.m. with the owl flying in from the west and targeting the papa bird. The owl hit him hard, knocking him from the attic and forcing him to drop down.
E21 and E22 were woken up by the hit, and M15 was seen on the cam vocalizing.
Everything seemed to have calmed down a bit until the owl came back for seconds around 1:56 a.m. The hard-hitter flew into M15, but the papa bird was able to catch himself this time and land on the veranda.
M15 jumped back to the attic but then flew off and headed west. The eaglets were once again spooked awake but eventually went back to sleep.
Eventually, maybe after taking a lap or two to calm his nerves, M15 returned to the attic and was able to fall back to sleep.
Watch the full fight down below.
The Southwest Florida Eagle Cam has been livestreaming this nest since 2012. Following some downtime after Hurricane Ian, the live look returned — and the eagles rebuilt their nest. Today, it uses four discreet cameras that monitor the birds around the clock.
For anyone wanting to watch highlights from the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam, you can find them here.
You can also check out the 24-hour live stream down below to keep an eye out for Harriet and see how the eaglets are doing:
